endroll
by pengiechan
Summary: Twenty years after the end of the series, a new mystery begins - but things are never as simple as they appear. How will the curtain close this time? Manga based, various pairings, multiple OCs. In progress, 12 up.
1. codes and keys

**author's** **preface**: I have never been a fan of original characters in fanfiction. The idea seems altogether preposterous, if not a little presumptuous. But the idea for this series has been living in my head for five years, and now that I've exhausted several of my other Spiral-related writing goals, I have arrived at the turning point. The decision to pursue endroll was not an easy one, and I don't feel that it will be well-accepted. However, at this point in my life I have to write for myself, regardless of whether it's liked or even finished.

Fair warning: this series contains several original characters, though all have a distinguishable link to the original Spiral cast. It is set approximately twenty years after the end of the manga. Common Japanese terms are sprinkled throughout, if only to preserve each character's unique way of speaking; I suggest consulting Google search if you happen upon something you don't understand. Finally, I can't make any promises that this will ever be finished - but I intend for it to be my _magnum opus_ regardless.

Please don't hesitate to leave comments or criticism - I will be editing as I go along. Please also watch for accompanying pieces that may be published at the same time as new chapters, as they will tell some of the stories that occur between Spiral and this series.

Enjoy.**  
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><p><strong>ENDROLL<strong>  
>together in blindness, alone in light<p>

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><p><em>What are the Blade Children?<em>

Narumi Mitsuko was seventeen and brilliant. By her own admission, she was well-read, studious, and learned at a faster pace than most others her age. Her parents had nurtured the soul of a genius within her - not difficult considering that she had inherited her father's high IQ. She could solve puzzles, logic games, or riddles so easily that they often ran the risk of boring her.

But this puzzle, this single cryptic line handwritten on the back of a postcard that lay on the desk before her, was one that she could not solve.

She stared at it, frowning so hard that her vision began to blur. She'd had this postcard for two days, now. It had been slipped inside the Narumi household's mail slot at some odd time, tucked inside a white envelope with her name printed on the front. She'd written it off as another prank, at first: as the sole member of her high school's journalism and newspaper club, students were known to pass her "suggestions" for nonsensical news articles, most of which ended up in the trash. But the manner in which she'd received this message had intrigued her, and a brief search of the internet for the phrase had returned no results, so clearly...

Clearly, she thought, and bent her head so low to the desk that the brown curls of her hair obscured the note, _clearly_ this had to be an anagram, or even a code of some kind. And she hadn't even considered the image printed on the front of the card, which was a photograph of Tokyo Tower against a bright blue sky. Someone was trying to tell her something - but what?

Mitsuko squinted at the phrase only inches from her nose, half-hidden by locks of hair. "Blade Children," she read aloud, sounding out each character. "What could that possibly mean...?"

"Mitsuko?" There was a soft tap on the brunette's bedroom door; she jolted upright in her leather-backed computer chair, hurriedly tucking the postcard beneath her keyboard. A moment later the door slid partially open, and a pair of inquisitive brown eyes peeked in. "You're going to be late - "

"I know, okaasan. I got caught up in reading the news." Mitsuko stood, pressing the power key on her monitor, hoping her actions were casual enough to conceal what she had really been doing. "Is Kyou ready yet?"

"He's been ready. He finished breakfast before you were even awake." The teen turned, facing her mother, who stood in the doorway smiling. "It's a very big day for him. Are you certain you don't mind walking part of the way? Your father and I can drive him - "

"It's fine." Mitsuko reached to the floor and picked up a satchel bag, shouldering it with a soft grunt. "I'll be off - "

"Hold on..." Though lacking the high IQ that her husband possessed, Narumi Hiyono was by no means dimwitted. The blonde-haired woman blocked the doorway, folding her arms carefully across her chest, looking critically into her daughter's face. "Something is bothering you," she said, softly, tilting her head. "What is it? Are you nervous?"

Mitsuko sighed, sliding the door open completely and brushing past her mother. "No, I'm not nervous. It's nothing."

"Mmm, it's definitely something..." Hiyono's voice followed her as she strode up the hallway into the kitchen and dining area. "You have that same look on your face that your father has when he's really frustrated, or trying to figure something out..."

"What look?"

"The one where you make your eyebrows go really close together, and stare really hard..." She laughed lightly, watching as her daughter turned on her heel and gave her an incredulous look. "And that's the same face he makes after I make a really silly observation." Her eyes drifted to a figure seated at the table in their kitchen. "Isn't it?"

"You always said she took after me." Ayumu looked at his wife and daughter over the top of the newspaper in his hands, a slight smile tracing the length of his mouth. "She's also going to take after my habit of being late if she doesn't hurry up."

"We have plenty of time." The teenager brightened at the sound of her father's voice, and she moved to the kitchen table, plucking a piece of toast from his abandoned plate of breakfast. "How's your leg today, papa?"

"Better." He placed his reading material on the table, sparing a glance at a wooden cane that stood in the corner of the dining area. "The weather's warming up. I can probably go out without that thing before long."

"Good." She bent and kissed his forehead, then turned her attention to a dark-haired boy that sat at the kitchen table. "Are you ready, Kyou?"

"I'm still hungry." Narumi Kyou, Mitsuko's younger brother, reached across the table and easily snatched the toast from her hand, only grinning at her yelp of protest. "And if we're late, I'm going to tell my teacher it's because you overslept and I couldn't walk to my first day of junior high school without a guardian - "

"Shut up!" She glared at him darkly, then whirled away from the table. "Toast-stealing brat. I didn't even get to eat breakfast..."

Hiyono took a step forward. "Mitsuko, I really _can_ take Kyou to school if you'd like to stay behind and - "

"Nope." The brunette held up a hand, cutting off her mother mid-sentence. "You know as well as I do that you're supposed to be resting, not running around driving anybody anywhere."

"But..."

"Yeah, okaasan." Kyou jumped to the floor from his chair, bending to pick up his bookbag from the floor. "Didn't the doctor put you on bed rest or something?"

The blonde looked from her son to her daughter, sighing, folding her arms across the full swell of her abdomen. "You two are worse than your father," she remarked. "I'm not really doing that much..."

"You've been up cleaning the house and packing lunches since five this morning. Your physician told you no chores, no exercise, and no strenuous activity after seven months of pregnancy." Ayumu lifted an eyebrow at the appearance of a surprised look on his wife's face. "Don't think I didn't miss that," he said, picking up his newspaper again. "As soon as these two are out the door, I'm carrying you back to bed."

Kyou grinned around the piece of toast in his mouth, and said something that sounded vaguely like an insinuation that his mother's weight would be too much to bear. A moment later he met the floor facefirst. "Ow..." he groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "Oneeeechaaannn..."

"Respect your elders," Mitsuko muttered; then, spotting two packed bentou lunches sitting on the nearby kitchen counter, brightened again. She retrieved them both, tucking the largest one snugly into the messenger bag containing her books and school supplies. "Well," she began, cheerfully, re-shouldering her bag, "we better get going. I'll make sure Kyou gets there in one piece, but I can't promise he'll survive his classes - "

The brown-haired boy looked up at his sister from the floor with wide eyes. "Oneeeeeeeeeeeechaaaan..."

"Come on, come on." She yanked him upright by one arm, shoving his bentou into his hands. "Now you're the one making us late."

Her brother made an annoyed face as he stuffed his lunch into his bookbag. "Only because you hit me."

"Have a good day, you two." Ayumu absently nodded at his children from his place at the table, seeming entirely oblivious to their verbal and physical sparring - or, as Mitsuko guessed, just used to it. "I expect a full report when you get home."

"Okay," they chorused, obediently.

"And," Hiyono chimed in, bounding forward to embrace them both (an action accompanied by a particularly dirty look from her husband), "enjoy yourselves. You only have a few first days of classes left in your lifetimes! This is a really exciting time for you both, isn't it?" There was silence, then both made a face. The blonde groaned, touching her forehead with one hand. "_Just_ like your father..."

"Well, we're off." Mitsuko leaned forward to place a kiss on her mother's cheek, squeezing her shoulder lightly before pulling away. "Have a good day at work and_ in bed_," she addressed each parent, stressing the latter half of her sentence. "Okay?"

"Mitsuko?" Hiyono took a step forward, lowering her voice. "Whatever it was that you were thinking about earlier... you can always talk to me about it."

The brunette only smiled, turning to leave the kitchen without saying another word. Her brother followed, both proceeding to the entrance room of their house and quickly swapping their slippers for loafers and sneakers, hastily throwing coats around their shoulders. "Ittekimasu," they called in unison, then darted out the door into the chilly April air. It was the first day of April, the first day of the new semester at school, and Narumi Mitsuko was wondering just what the Blade Children were.

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><p>Eleven-year-old Narumi Kyou was the spitting image of his father: tall and lanky with messy brown hair, brown eyes, and wits as sharp as a knife. He was also just as smart as his elder sister... or perhaps even smarter, considering that he'd been pushed ahead two years over the course of his primary school career. Despite his young age, this April morning was his first day of secondary school... and his first time walking in the direction of his classes with his older sibling, who'd been volunteered to accompany him each and every morning.<p>

And this walk was not going well.

"Why are you making that ugly face?"

"Why is it any of your business?" Mitsuko glared down at the top of her brother's spiky-haired head, feeling some sort of shameful rage at the way he casually strolled beside her, walking toward his first day of junior high school like it was nothing to be worried about. She'd been terrified on her first day - and felt even a little nervous now, on her way to the start of her second year of high school. She vividly remembered biting at her nails and tugging at her skirt... but here Kyou was, walking along with his hands in his coat pockets, asking her pointless questions. "I'm thinking about something," she muttered, her mind moving briefly back to the postcard now hidden safely away in her room. "That's all."

"Something stupid, probably." The boy made a snorting sound. "Okaasan said you were holed up in your room on your computer all morning."

"I was reading the news."

"So what's in the news today, then?"

"... hrmph." She looked away, biting down on her lip. She hated how smart he was, for a boy barely older than ten - and hated that she, at six and a half years older, found herself constantly arguing with him, sparring over some topic or another, trying hard to convince herself that he wasn't really that much smarter than she was. "Why do you always act so innocent in front of okaasan?" she asked, quickly changing the topic. "You know she doesn't believe that act."

"Why are you always smacking me around?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw him glance up at her, then shrug and look away. "That's abuse, you know."

"You deserve it for being such a smartass."

"I'm going to tell otousan you said that."

"Go ahead." The brunette stuck out her tongue, tugging on the strap of the bag slung over her shoulder. "Papa won't care."

"Will he care if I tell him you've been skipping out on your piano practices?"

Mitsuko's eyes went wide. "_DON'T SAY A WORD ABOUT THAT._"

"Why should I stay quiet?" Kyou's lips began to curve into a particularly sneaky grin. "It's not like you're paying me to cover for you or anything. Eventually he's going to realize you haven't been practicing, and that your playing is getting worse..."

"Damn it." She scowled. "It's not like I don't like playing, but I'd rather be working on something else..."

"No wonder he's more proud of me than you."

"Don't say stupid things." She bent and smacked him on the back of the head, ignoring his immediate yelp of pain. "You know as well as I do that papa would never say anything like that. Okaasan, either." She straightened, folding her arms across her chest, tossing her curls over one shoulder. "I'll get back to playing eventually. It's just not easy to focus on the piano when I'm the only one responsible for the school newspaper..."

"That sounds like an excuse, y'know."

"MAI!" Mitsuko started, whirled around, and came face-to-face with a skinny girl with choppy jet-black hair, green eyes, and bright pink glasses. The girl gave her a lopsided grin, and the brunette sighed heavily, sliding her face into one palm. "You scared me," she murmured, rubbing her forehead. "I forgot I was supposed to meet you..."

"I kinda figured. I was coming out to the end of the street, anyway." The girl - who went by the name of Asazuki Mai - gave her friend's shoulder an affectionate squeeze, her eyes creasing. "I didn't know the brat was coming with you."

Kyou stared up at Mai with a completely blank expression. "Hello, Mai. It's been a long time. I hope you've been well."

"What, did somebody finally teach you some manners?" She leaned down and gave the younger boy a long, critical look, her glasses sliding down her nose. "Nope," she said, after a pause, straightening, "you're just as much as a nuisance as you were the last time I saw you. I really don't get how you turned out to be like this when your sister is so sweet, and soooo pretty..."

"She's about as pretty as a bucket of dirt."

"Start walking, Kyou," Mitsuko said, pushing on her brother's shoulders, too concerned with the possibility of him being late to class to worry about smacking him around for his latest insult. She would get him back for that later. "We're almost there, and if you and Mai-chan get into another fight, I'll have to answer to your homeroom teacher."

The brown-haired boy visibly lifted his nose into the air as he began to walk ahead of the two girls. "I would never stoop to _her_ level."

Mai narrowed her eyes at him. "_Brat_."

"Hey, hey... come on." Mitsuko laughed softly, tugging on the younger girl's arm as they began to walk together. Asazuki Mai was sixteen and rebellious, and for over ten years had been her closest friend. They'd practically grown up together: Mitsuko's parents had been friends with Mai's in high school, and had remained close after their daughters were born. As a little girl, Mai had been energetic, athletic, and carefree - a complete contrast to Mitsuko, who always had her nose in a book and was so clumsy that she could barely look at a soccer ball without falling over. They'd been good for each other, though, and when it came time for Mai to enroll in high school, she'd pushed herself hard to score high enough to end up in the same one that Mitsuko was already attending: Tsukiomi Gakuen. It was a decision that had made their parents happy, of course, having attended there themselves years before. "Are you nervous?" the brunette asked her friend, smiling. "It's your first day of high school..."

"Nah." The raven-haired girl shrugged, tugging on the strap of her checkered shoulder bag. "Though 'kaasan lectured me for almost ten minutes straight about how I was gonna get in trouble for having my hair dyed, and wearing my uniform with boots, and how my bracelets were gonna piss someone off..." She nodded at the accessories she sported on her wrists, black leather cuffs dotted with metallic studs and spikes. "I think 'tousan was laughing behind her back the whole time."

"Well, your dad was like that when he was young, wasn't he?"

"Yep... I've seen enough pictures to know it. His hair was _way_ brighter than mine." She smoothed back the short locks of her hair that had been blown into her face by the morning breeze, then tucked her hands into the sleeves of her jacket. "But my mom's not happy with anything I do. I'm used to it by now."

Mitsuko smiled. "She really isn't as hard on you as you make her out to be."

"That's what you think." The younger girl kicked at the sidewalk, snorting. "It's gonna be a pain in my ass to have to see her teaching gym classes, on top of seeing her at home. I don't know what possessed me to enroll at Tsukiomi..."

"Mm..." The brunette paused for a moment, watching the form of her younger brother strolling casually ahead of them. Her mind was on its way back to the postcard - the mystery she hadn't yet solved - and it occurred to her, after a moment, that her friend might have some insight. Mai was, after all, an expert on the unknown and undiscovered, and it was possible that she would recognize the phrase. "Mai-chan," she began, softly, "can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything." The green-eyed girl tipped her head to one side. "What's up?"

"Have you ever heard anything about the Blade Children?"

"The _what_?"

"Blade Children." Mitsuko sounded the phrase out again, slowly, the syllables difficult and foreign in her mouth. "Somebody sent me a postcard the other day, and "what are the Blade Children?" was written on the back of it. I couldn't find anything online, so I was thinking it was code of some sort, or a hint... But I can't figure anything out." She frowned slightly at this admission. "I thought that maybe it was something you'd know about, but..."

"No idea." Mai shrugged, giving the older girl a sympathetic look. "Sorry. Not something I've ever heard of. Are you sure it's not some prank?"

"It very well could be..."

"Jerks." She kicked at the sidewalk a second time. "I'm gonna join the Newspaper Club just to be your bodyguard. I'll beat up anybody who runs their mouth or sends you stupid tips - "

"Mai-chan, that isn't really necessary." Mitsuko laughed. "Thank you, though."

"Hey." Kyou's voice interrupted their conversation, and the boy suddenly spun on his heel to face them, his hands still stuck in his pockets. "This is where I leave."

"Oh..." Mitsuko slowed to a stop, looking down the street to the right; her old junior high school, now Kyou's junior high school, sat at the end of the sidewalk there, surrounded by students in navy blue uniforms sporting backpacks and lightweight coats. Tsukiomi was only a few blocks from this spot, which had made it an even more ideal choice for her high school. "Well," she began, "do your best - "

"Sure. Bye."

"KYOU!" The brunette screamed after her brother as he abruptly turned and walked away, feeling a flush of irritation rush into her face. "Don't you want some of my sisterly advice?"

"Nope." He raised one hand and waved without looking, his voice fading as he strode down the sidewalk. "See you later, oneechan."

"Well." Mai watched the boy walk away, her voice flat as she spoke. "He really is an atrocious little shit, isn't he?"

Mitsuko sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I have no idea how he ended up like this..."

The raven-haired girl's eyes suddenly brightened behind her glasses. "Maybe the Blade Children are assassins dedicated to killing obnoxious little brothers, and they're trying to offer you their services. Wouldn't that be timely?"

The brunette sighed a second time as they resumed walking in the direction of Tsukiomi. "I wish."

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><p>Mitsuko was already mentally planning her day by the time she split up from Mai and arrived in classroom 2-4. First there would be a brief homeroom period, followed by the opening ceremony for the new year. The ceremony would run long, as it had the year before, up to lunch period. Just the thought of lunch sent her stomach in the direction of rumbling: she'd missed breakfast in favor of devoting thought to that postcard, and she was sure the bentou her mother had packed was full of her father's delicious cooking. After lunch, she'd have just a few classes, and then she'd spend an hour or so in the Newspaper Club room, cleaning up the dust that had accrued since March - and hoping someone would come to join the club in which she was the sole member. Then she'd head home, have dinner, do some homework, read, and go to bed. All in all, she thought, not a bad day.<p>

The brunette surveyed her classroom as students drifted in, her chin propped up in her hands. Most of these students had familiar faces, were those she recognized by name. It hadn't been that long since she'd seen them, after all. There were a few she didn't know, or only vaguely recognized - transfers, she guessed, from other classes. Class 1-4 had been recognized as the unofficial "class of geniuses," where the students with the highest test scores or overall best performance had been gathered. 2-4 was looking to be no different, perhaps with just a little bit of the "fat" trimmed out to make room for those with more promise than others. Of course, the Tsukiomi faculty members would never confirm such a thing, but they wouldn't deny it, either.

After a few minutes of Mitsuko's silent observations, the classroom door slid open and a short, balding man with black hair and tortoiseshell-framed glasses walked in, carrying a heavy stack of notebooks, papers, and two or three textbooks. This was Inoue-sensei, their homeroom teacher and mathematics instructor. At his entrance, the students that were still standing about talking with others reluctantly took their seats; Inoue was not, by any means, a stern man, but what he lacked in forcefulness he made up for in willingness to issue annoying forms of punishment.

The students rose, bowed, and sat again on their instructor's cue, without complaint, and then waited for their routine "first day" announcements to begin. But this didn't happen: instead, Inoue looked out at the students, adjusted his glasses, and cleared his throat. "We have a transfer student joining us," he announced.

Mitsuko sat up straight. This was unexpected. Tsukiomi was notoriously difficult to transfer into, even at the start of a new year, and class 1-4 was - well, _had_ been, she corrected herself, glancing at an empty desk directly to her right - full. Maybe they were accepting a foreign exchange student? Her thoughts instantly moved to what a good story this development would be for the newspaper. Some of the other students seemed surprised by this news, as well, since an instant murmur rose up in the room. Inoue didn't bother silencing them; instead, he motioned to someone standing outside of the door. "Come in, please," he requested.

A tall male student with dark blue eyes and white hair styled into a faux mohawk stepped through the door. Mitsuko stared, blinked, and immediately felt faint. She gripped the sides of her desk with both hands, barely hearing her teacher asking the student to introduce himself. All she could do in that moment was reel. This could _not_ be happening -

"My name is Lacuna Rutherford." The teenager grinned out at the class. "Yoroshiku."


	2. strangeness and charm

Finding time to talk to Lacuna Rutherford was not difficult: less than a minute after his abrupt self-introduction to class 2-4, the students lined up to proceed to the opening ceremony, and Mitsuko went out of her way to ensure that she ended up behind him at the back of the line. The moment they left the classroom, they turned, looked at each other, and spoke in unison:

"It's been a long time!"

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

The pale-haired teenager's went wide with surprise at the brunette's outburst. "Mitzi," he said, in a voice that was perhaps a little deeper than she remembered, "aren't you happy to see me?"

She scowled, crossing her arms. "Don't call me that."

"Whaaat? Really?" He stopped walking abruptly, bending down nearly a foot - he was perhaps a little taller, too - to peer into her face. "You don't like your nickname anymore?"

"We're not kids anymore," she said, a little uncomfortable, and reached out to push carefully on his arm. "Keep walking. If we're late to the opening ceremony, Inoue-sensei will put us on solo cleaning duties this afternoon, and that is the _last_ thing I want."

"Hmmm..." He turned around and resumed walking, and she followed. After a moment they ended up side-by-side, a few paces behind the rest of their class as they proceeded through the hallway in the direction of the stairs. "Well," he started, by way of beginning what Mitsuko hoped was an explanation, "I've moved back to Japan."

"Alone?"

"No. With my father." He laughed lightly and she was immediately certain that his voice had deepened since the last time she'd seen him. "I got tired of traveling all the time. Otousan and I talked about it, and he decided to put his career on hold for a little while so I could finish high school like a normal person. I've just had a bunch of tutors and private classes before this, so..."

Mitsuko lifted an eyebrow. "So you decided to come to Tsukiomi?"

He shrugged. "It's close to our new place, and the entrance exams were easy enough. Mai said the two of you would be here this year, anyway, so I figured it'd be a good fit for me." His mouth tweaked itself into a smile. "Just like old times, right?"

She gave him a skeptical look. "Mai-chan knew about this? She didn't say anything."

"Ehe..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't have time to tell her. I only took the entrance exam a couple days ago, and they were gonna make me wait 'till the next semester to enroll, but... otousan pulled a couple strings, and... you know how it is."

"I get it." At this she finally allowed her face to relax into a smile, albeit a wry one. "Well, Mai will be happy to see you. She might even call you "Lacuna-sempai.""

He cocked his head to one side, looking at her for a long moment with what she thought was an expression of concern. "_You're_ not happy to see me?" he asked.

She sighed. They followed the rest of the class down a flight of stairs, suspending their conversation as they did so; Mitsuko noticed that a few of her - _their_ - classmates were looking over their shoulders at them, either with quizzical looks or hushed whispers to others."It isn't that," she said, finally, softly, as they reached the first landing. "But I wasn't expecting this. The last time I saw you, your father was talking about moving to England. I just didn't think that I'd..." She struggled to get the words out, her eyes falling to the second set of stairs. "... see you again," she finished. "That's all."

"You should know me better than that." He laughed, the sound somehow close to her ears; as she looked up in surprise, he bent to slip an arm around her shoulders. "I always said we'd stick together, Mitzi," he told her, "you and me and Mai. There's no way I could break that promise."

Mitsuko's face flushed. "You don't have to keep promises you made so long ago," she responded, shrugging his arm off of her shoulders and quickening her pace. "Besides, we're not as close as you and Mai are. If you really wanted to keep a promise, Lakkun - " Her mouth suddenly snapped closed. How had she gone back to using that name already? It had to be his influence -

"You _do_ remember." Lacuna's voice was happy and bright, and a quick glance at his face confirmed that he wore a smile to match his tone. He easily caught up to her, straightening up again to his full height, tucking his hands into the pockets of his pants. "We're gonna be good friends again, Mitzi," he said. "Just like old times."

The brunette only sighed. So much for her plans for the first day of classes. Now that Lacuna was here, _nothing_ would be going as planned.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, Mitsuko stood in the Newspaper Club room, braced herself against the window with both hands, and heaved a huge sigh. Just as she'd expected, absolutely nothing had gone as planned that day.<p>

Lacuna Rutherford's presence at Tsukiomi had caused trouble almost immediately: when the additional second year classes had joined theirs in entrance to the auditorium, a few girls had recognized him and caused a commotion that required interventions from several teachers to quell. A student standing near Mitsuko had made the remark that he was in gossip magazines from time to time, along with his father - who, years ago, had been a favorite of the tabloids himself - and was rumored to be involved with various British actresses or Japanese idols. He was seventeen, rich, famous, and utterly handsome (as several girls had loudly remarked, anyway, not that Mitsuko's opinion aligned with theirs). Eyes Rutherford had gone to great lengths to keep his young son out of the public eye over the course of his high-profile career as a world-famous pianist, but when Lacuna had grown up and expressed an interest in music himself, well...

"I forgot," the brunette had groaned, looking up at her companion with disdain. "You released some stupid CD, didn't you?"

The white-haired teen had beamed at her, not the slightest bit sheepish. "I had no idea people in Japan knew about me!"

Just moments later, when the second year students had settled down and aligned into neat rows, the first year students had filed into the room - along with them Asazuki Mai, who somehow managed to spot Lacuna almost immediately and nearly deafened the girls around her by shrieking "LAKKUN!" at the top of her lungs. The dark-haired girl had received a swift talking-to from her homeroom teacher, along with a furious glare (and several angry gestures) from the girls gym instructor, Asazuki Ryouko, who happened to be Mai's mother. Lacuna had looked just a bit guilty, then, exchanging glances with an entirely unamused Mitsuko. "Maybe I should have told her," he had remarked, biting on his lip as he watched Mai make a series of angry faces at various teachers.

The brunette had nodded, once, hard. "Yes. You should have told her. Because now she's going to spend the rest of the day trying to sneak out of class to see you."

"Oops..."

The opening ceremony had gone smoothly, although it was as long as it had been the prior year, and Mitsuko had found herself yawning several times as she struggled to stay awake. Beside her, Lacuna had at first paid rapt attention to the various speakers... and then slowly, inevitably, lost interest in the whole thing. At one point Mitsuko had glanced to her left and noticed him tapping out a message on his cell phone - to Mai, she had confirmed, although there was never really a question - and had elbowed him in the side. He'd given her a wide-eyed, innocent look that she had only found fit to return with a glare that her father would have been immensely proud of. He'd tucked the phone back in the pocket of his uniform, then crossed his arms and... pouted. She'd had to work hard to stifle an outburst at that expression. "Seriously," she'd said to him later, as they walked back to their classroom, "you're seventeen. You _don't_ pout. And besides, you should be glad I saved you from being caught. You'd be cleaning the whole hallway later if anybody saw you on your phone."

Lunch had been surprisingly quiet; Mitsuko guessed that the students of class 2-4 were more likely to have listened to the piano melodies of Eyes Rutherford than his son's rock and metal compositions, and thus didn't have much of an interest in bothering him - or not on his first day of classes, at least. Lacuna had perched on the top of the formerly empty desk to Mitsuko's right - now his - and answered a variety of questions in a completely casual manner. Yes, he would be in Japan for the entire year, if not until he graduated; yes, his father had placed a lease on a home just a few blocks from Tsukiomi; yes, it was along the way that she and Mai walked to the campus every morning, so of course he'd be joining them on their walk. Although Mitsuko had resented the way he'd popped up again in Japan without warning, their lunch hour had relaxed her, somewhat. It was nice to talk to him again, after all...

Lacuna Rutherford had, along with Mai, been a close childhood friend of Mitsuko's. His appearance in her life had been somewhat different than Mai's, however. The story, as Mitsuko knew it, was that a twenty-year-old Eyes Rutherford had been involved in some sort of scandalous affair with an unidentified woman in Paris, which had eventually resulted in the birth of his son, Lacuna. At that time, the boy's existence had been kept a complete secret from the media, and Eyes had no involvement with Lacuna for the first few years of his life. But then, suddenly, Lacuna's mother had died, and there were no immediate family members to claim him. At that point, Eyes had stepped forward, and along with his lifetime partner, a former hostage negotiator named Tsuchiya Kirie, had taken sole custody of the boy and moved him to Japan. (Knowing Kirie as she did, Mitsuko always wondered when the woman had become involved with Eyes, who was ten years her junior - and if she'd known about the affair at any point before Lacuna came to Japan. Also knowing Kirie as she did, Mitsuko knew she would never dare ask these questions, or else she would run the risk of being immediately murdered.)

The little white-haired boy had been introduced to Mitsuko and Mai at the age of four, and after a few months of being taught to speak Japanese, became an integral part of their tiny group. For six years they'd played together in Mitsuko's backyard or at the Rutherford loft, progressing from swingsets to sandcastles to pretending to be robots or comic book heroes. They'd developed their own personalities and independent thoughts together, and for quite some time had been nearly inseparable. Their parents had always seemed happy with the closeness of their children, and their disagreements had been very few and far between. Until Lacuna turned ten, they had been a perfectly comfortable trio of children who found as much joy in playing piano duets as they did throwing rocks into a pond or making paper airplanes.

At ten, however, something had happened. Eyes had kept his career restricted to Japan since Lacuna had come to live with him, and had spoken only occasionally of resuming a worldwide series of tours - and Mitsuko, in fact, remembered once hearing him comment to her father that he was perfectly content with living in Japan, his son and Kirie by his side. But something had happened, and all at once Lacuna was gone. Eyes Rutherford, as Hiyono had explained to the two curious little girls who had asked her about the disappearance of their friend, had decided to tour the world once more, playing piano recitals and releasing new music, and his son had gone with him. They'd both been upset, Mai to the point of inconsolable, but were told that Lacuna would surely be back soon.

"Soon" ended up being only a handful of times in the seven years that followed. Eyes and Kirie had lived in various lofts and summer houses around the world, and Lacuna had gone with them. They never stayed in the same place for long, and only came back to Japan for brief visits around the holidays. Each time Mai and Mitsuko saw their friend, he was a little older, a little taller, and a little more mature. He took classes from private tutors instead of attending school, and was taught to speak English and French fluently to accompany his Japanese. He was fourteen when his first and only album was released, a collection of songs he'd composed and played on his electric guitar. (He was a skilled pianist, much like Eyes, but had always shown more enthusiasm for "modern" music.) Lacuna had shrugged the whole thing off - it was only released in the UK, and on an independent label at that - but the event had thrust both him and his father back into the spotlight, and started rumors about his personal life that refused to go away.

Mitsuko and Mai had handled the loss of their childhood friend's presence differently. The two girls had remained close friends, but it was Mai who had worked the hardest to stay close to Lacuna. They'd exchanged email addresses and began to trade messages frequently, adding text messages as a secondary form of conversation once they were old enough to have cell phones at their disposal. Mitsuko, meanwhile...

The brunette's mind came back to the present time, and she leaned against one side of the large window in front of her, loosely folding her arms at her waist. Lacuna and Mai had always shared a special bond, one that she had always, admittedly, been a little envious of. It wasn't romantic in the slightest - no, that had nothing to do with it, for reasons that Mitsuko knew very well - but it was as if the two were siblings, related by blood instead of mere friendship. They shared the same interests, the same tastes in music, and to some extent the same rebellious streak. She had never wanted to interfere with what they had, so when Lacuna had offered her his email address, and later a phone number and instant messaging ID, she'd accepted them, but...

She remembered her thoughts clearly: it will never be like that between us. And that was why she had all but let him go.

The last time she had seen him before the present time, she had been fourteen and he had just turned fifteen; Eyes had traveled back to Japan only to sell his loft, and Lacuna had accompanied him. The teen had visited Mitsuko at home and answered her father's questions politely, saying at one point that it seemed as if they'd be moving to England for a while, maybe permanently. The brunette had reeled only a little at this, later resigning herself to the idea that she would never see this suddenly tall, lanky, blue-eyed boy with the beginnings of a ridiculous mohawk again. But that idea had hurt her, unexpectedly. At the end of his visit she'd walked him to the door, perhaps a little reluctantly, and he'd turned to her then -

_We'll always stick together, Mitzi. No matter what. You and me and Mai._

_Mitzi_. Her mouth twitched into what might have been a smile. She couldn't quite remember who had come up with that nickname, or when it had first sprung from Lacuna's mouth, but it had stuck. He had always insisted on calling her that, and she had, in turn, insisted on Lakkun, a name that Mai had picked up as well. At one time she had adored hearing him call her that - a name that no one else used - but now it just reminded her of a cat, or some silly cartoon character. She'd grown up - they'd all grown up - and Mitzi was no more.

She sighed. Her thoughts were wandering now, moving from topic to topic, and the dusty Newspaper Club room sat behind her completely untouched. She'd come here immediately after classes were done, intending to tidy up and wait for any first-year students who might be interested in joining, but instead she'd found herself perched at the window, looking out at the blue sky and slowly falling sun, thinking about her childhood and Lacuna Rutherford. That boy had a disastrous impact on her life, she thought, no matter _how_ old he was -

"Mitsukoooooo."

She turned. Mai stood in the doorway of the club room, her green eyes wide and pink lips set in a childish pout. The brunette stifled a laugh, pretending instead to be concerned. "What is it?" she asked, tilting her head. "Was your first day really that bad?"

"_Terrible_," she answered dramatically, slamming the sliding door closed. She strode heavily into the room, dumping her bag on the center table, her voice thick with emotion. "Where do I even begin? I got yelled at probably a hundred times..."

"I'm sorry, Mai-chan." Mitsuko left the window and reached for a nearby cloth, beginning to wipe a thin layer of dust from all of the exposed surfaces in the club room. "It sounded like you were happy to see Lacuna, though," she remarked, glancing at the younger girl in time to see her face brighten at the mention of their friend. "You really had no idea he was coming, did you?"

"Nope." She shook her head emphatically. "He mentioned in a couple emails that he wanted to go to school in Japan, but I didn't think anything was gonna come of it... you know, with his dad still touring and everything." She smiled, folding her arms together on the top of the table. "That almost makes my day better. I just wish I was in class with you guys..."

"That would be a bad idea, I think." The brunette rolled her eyes as she swiped the cloth over the top of a storage cabinet. "The way the two of you get on with each other, you'd end up in the hallway as punishment for talking every single day."

Mai bit down on her bottom lip, looking away. "I was out there today anyway."

"Already?"

"I can't help it..." The girl's emerald eyes went wide again, and she gazed up at her friend with a look that practically begged for pity. "There's a transfer student from Italy in our class, and she is soooo gorgeous... She has the prettiest blue eyes, and blonde hair, and her name even sounds romantic..." She tilted her head back, closing her eyes. "Francesca..."

"Admiring your classmates is one thing, Mai-chan, but you shouldn't be talking to them while your teachers are trying to give lessons." Mitsuko tried to hide a smile; Mai's mother would have been proud of her, she thought, for this attempt to talk some sense into her rebellious teenage daughter. "Did you try to talk to her over lunch?"

"She wouldn't even give me the time of day..."

"Ouch. Although, she may not even know very much Japanese, right?" The brunette glanced at her friend, only to see the younger girl swiftly shake her head. "Ah... well... Mai-chan, it's only your first day. You can't take anything to heart yet. I'm sure some of your classmates will end up being good friends to you." She examined the cloth in her hands and was pleased to see that it hadn't yet collected very much dust or dirt. "And if Francesca doesn't speak to you, you'll just have to admire her beauty and charm from afar."

"Mouuuu..." Mai slumped over, her head giving a soft thump as it met the surface of the table. "Why am I so unlucky with girls?"

"You're only sixteen, Mai-chan..."

"I know, but my parents were - " The girl's sentence was interrupted by the sound of the club room door sliding open, and all at once Mai's eyes brightened behind her glasses, her face lighting up. "Lakkun!" she exclaimed.

"Mai? Mitzi?" Lacuna peered into the room, blinking a few times, looking down at a sheet of folded paper in his hand. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I thought I told you not to call me - wait. What are _you_ doing here?" Mitsuko lifted her eyebrows at the white-haired teen, stepping back from the computer desk she had been preparing to clean. "I thought you had to make your club selection this afternoon. Are you done already?"

"Yeah, but..." He blinked once, looked to the paper again, and then back to Mitsuko. "This is the Newspaper Club room, right? I wasn't really interested in any of the other clubs, and the music club is full, so I thought I'd join this one. Inoue-sensei said there was only one member, and that they were really desperate for some help."

The brunette stared at Lacuna, then groaned aloud, dropping the dust rag to the floor. As if she wasn't going to be seeing enough of him as it was - now she would have to share her club duties with him, too. Lacuna Rutherford, she thought, _definitely_ had a disastrous impact on her life... and his reign of terror was only going to continue.


	3. hide and seek

"Checkmate."

"_Again_?"

Mitsuko smirked across the table at her white-haired companion, watching his expression change from shock to absolute misery. Lacuna slumped over the chessboard that lay between them, groaning as he knocked his few remaining pieces askew. "I don't know how to win against you, Mitzi..."

"I'm telling you, it's impossible." She snatched his queen up between two fingers, twirling around the marbled white piece with satisfaction. "I've won again. Now get to cleaning."

"Fine..."

"And don't forget to turn off the computer this time." She watched him rise from his chair, trying to keep her smirk from getting too out of hand - and probably failing, she imagined. "Also, since it's the end of the week, don't forget that you have to dust and sweep the floor... ne?"

He shot her a look that was half misery, half irritation, reaching for a broom. "Aye aye, captain."

At that, Mitsuko had to laugh. A little more than a week had passed since she had started her second year at Tsukiomi Gakuen, and although she had considered the first day a special kind of disastrous, the days that followed had been surprisingly... tolerable. She was enjoying her classes, certainly, but she had expected that. What she _hadn't_ expected was that, after several days, she had discovered a genuine appreciation for Lacuna Rutherford's company. She'd been certain from the start that his presence would do nothing but irritate her, but after a few days, she had realized that she was probably overreacting. He'd matured over the three years in which they had been separated, and although she had been fearful of spending of more than half of each weekday with him... well, she had to admit that his company wasn't terrible. He'd given her space, hadn't annoyed her during classes, and had thankfully only asked once for help with his homework. And having help with the Newspaper Club, too, was...

Well, she thought to herself, and felt her lips move back in the direction of a smirk, having his help with the club activities was a large part of why she hadn't driven him out of the room screaming after that first day... but it was perhaps even more helpful that Lacuna had proposed a daily chess game to determine who was responsible for cleaning the club room at the end of each session. He hadn't realized that Mitsuko was the daughter of a man who'd played daily chess sessions with his wife-to-be while he was hospitalized and bored, and that anyone who learned chess from Narumi Ayumu was practically unbeatable. (Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about Narumi Hiyono, who had a track record of failing miserably at every type of game that involved chess pieces, checkers, marbles, cards, or dice.) Lacuna's record so far was zero wins, six losses, and Mitsuko was willing to bet money on making it through the entire semester without a single loss on her part.

As Lacuna idly swept the club room floor, the brunette watched, thinking to herself about the events of her first full week in school. Everything had gone smoothly, for the most part... except for Tuesday. On Tuesday, during class 2-4's lunch period, Lacuna had been comparing his English notes with Mitsuko as she finished her lunch - notes he really hadn't needed to take, considering he spoke English and French fluently, but Mitsuko was grateful for them regardless. He'd been attempting to explain a particularly difficult sentence to her when two girls had descended on them, standing in front of Lacuna and Mitsuko's desks in the back of the classroom, their arms folded and faces tight. They'd had some fairly hateful things to say about the pale-haired teen - mostly variations of "you don't belong in Japan" and "you don't belong in our class," to which he'd simply laughed, shrugging off their remarks without effect. "I was raised in Japan," he'd responded with a smile. "I can speak the language just as well as the rest of you, can't I?"

"That isn't it." The larger of the two girls, a stocky track and field club member, had leaned down to scowl in Lacuna's face, her brown eyes sharp. "We know who you are. You came here thinking you could show off your father's money, didn't you? There's no reason a spoiled brat like you should have come back to Japan and into our class."

"That's right." The second girl had chimed in, a tall and lanky black-haired debate club member with thick glasses. "You're just going to cause trouble, being back here. Do you know that students in the other second year classes are trying to transfer to our class just so they can see you? It'd be better for everyone if you left before those girls got their way."

Lacuna's smile never wavered. "You have strong opinions, but I don't understand why we can't all be friends. I'm not here to cause any trouble."

The bigger girl had frowned at that remark, and her hands had curled into fists. "You don't get it, do you? I'm telling you to get out of our class - "

"Hold it." At that Mitsuko had intervened, calmly placing her bentou and chopsticks down on the top of her desk, swallowing her current mouthful of rice before turning her attention to the two very annoyed-looking girls. "If anyone should be leaving our class, it should be you two. You're only doing this kind of thing because your friend Suzumura-san moved to class 2-2 at the start of the year, and you think Lacuna took her place."

The girls had exchanged glances, then moved threateningly in the direction of her desk. The brunette hadn't flinched - she was proud of herself, thinking back on this - and had simply continued, looking up at them calmly. "The three of you slacked off so much last year that your grades dropped. You, Takahashi-san," she had stated, nodding at the taller girl, "used your father's status as a political party member to remain in the class, because Inoue-san was fearful of what actions he might take against him if you were moved. And you, Satou-san," she had addressed the stocky girl, "are just as guilty as showing off your father's money as anyone else. As nervous as Inoue-sensei becomes when threatened, he wasn't going to accept the bribe your parents offered - but they found someone else who would. Unfortunately, Suzumura-san had no money or power at her disposal, so she was moved back to 2-2, where the three of you should have all been. You attempted to bring her back in by talking to the school board, but you were told that her place had already been filled by a transfer student. Isn't that right?"

There had been a dumbfounded silence then, for several seconds, both of the girls staring down at her with pale, shocked faces. Mitsuko had looked from one girl to another, then picked up her chopsticks again. "That's what I thought," she'd remarked, waving her utensils in their direction. "You have no one else to blame for this situation but yourselves. Now please leave before I think it would be a good idea to tell Asazuki-sensei that I clearly saw the two of you smoking around the side of the building yesterday afternoon, when you said you were too sick to participate in gym class." She had paused then, for effect, tapping one chopstick to her bottom lip. "Come to think of it, Asazuki-sensei might like to know why your performance in her club has been reduced so much, Satou-san."

The girls had fled back to their desks at the front of the room without another word. Lacuna had stared at Mitsuko with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open. "Mitzi," he had whispered, sounding absolutely stunned, "how did you know all that?"

"My father and mother are detectives, you know." She'd returned to eating, smiling to herself. "I can find out anything about anyone. It's just a matter of knowing where to look and when to listen."

"Sugoi..."

Back in the present time, Mitsuko laughed softly, remembering the sound of absolute awe in her companion's voice. _Sugoi_ indeed. She'd had to do some serious digging to find most of that dirt, but somehow she'd known it would come in handy. She had a feeling that no one would be messing with Lacuna Rutherford now, seeing as the girl with a reputation for knowing everything about everyone was backing him up. This was probably why she had never made any friends in her class, she guessed... but that was fine, she thought, turning her eyes on Lacuna, because now she had at least one person by her side.

Aside from that rather interesting event on Tuesday, the new semester had been progressing smoothly so far. Lacuna had joined Mitsuko, Mai, and Kyou on their morning walks, meeting up with them after Mai joined the Narumi siblings at the end of her street and before Kyou left in the direction of his junior high. Kyou, who had only been three years old when Lacuna first left with his father, made it clear almost immediately that he adored the white-haired teen's company. For the last three mornings they'd been chattering on about music, leaving Mitsuko and Mai to talk instead about school and their club activities. Mai had been (as she phrased it) "violently forced" into joining the track and field club, but was already on her way to breaking Tsukiomi's records for practically every event. Lacuna had, much to Mitsuko's surprise, turned out to be a rather creative writer, and the first issue of the spring semester newspaper was well underway. And Kyou had taken a liking to junior high, finding himself much less bored in class than he had been at the end of his primary school career. His young age had caused a few comments, he'd said to his parents at dinner one evening, but he didn't mind. In fact, he already had made several new friends, and had plans for a baseball game with them that weekend. Ayumu had looked at Mitsuko knowingly before making the remark that Kyou's talents as a social butterfly had not come from _his_ genes... to which Hiyono had beamed at them all, patting her son on the top of his spiky hair. "Every now and then he does something that's _not_ identical to his father," she had remarked cheerfully.

There was suddenly a soft chime from Mitsuko's cell phone, which was resting on the end of the table in the middle of the club room, beyond the chess set in front of her. She reached for the phone and viewed the contents of the small window on the screen, then groaned. The text message, which was from Mai, read simply "can't, I'm grounded." Mitsuko had invited the younger girl over for dinner that evening, but Mai's week-long track record of misbehaving in class had evidently resulted in punishment from her parents. The brunette wasn't surprised, but did feel annoyed; she'd attempted to talk some sense into Mai, but the younger girl had insisted she was doing nothing wrong and was just being picked on. She hadn't been quite so troublesome in junior high, so Mitsuko was left to assume that teenage hormones were doing their thing and causing a particularly rebellious streak to make itself known. Mai had always been far left of normal - she regularly dyed her hair, wore creative choices in clothing, and listened to music that involved a fair amount of screaming - but up until recently, she'd been a well-behaved girl. Now...

Mitsuko gently placed her phone aside, sighing. She didn't particularly want to be alone that night: her aunt and uncle were in town for the weekend, and although she loved them dearly, the conversations her father regularly held with his older brother were so deep and involved that not even she could keep up. And making conversation with her aunt was sometimes impossible, as she spent much of her time ranting about her work in a nearby police office to Mitsuko's mother, who had become a master of nodding and smiling politely. When these evenings occurred, she typically invited Mai over, and they would spend the evening after dinner studying, playing video games, or even going out shopping. But without her friend available, there was the possibility of being subjected to an uncomfortable family dinner alone. What was she going to do?

"Hey, Mitzi." She glanced up and saw Lacuna peering down at her, a dust rag in his hand. "Something wrong? You look kind of down."

"I told you not to call me th - " She stopped, mid-sentence, then sat up straight. "Actually... are you busy tonight?"

He blinked at her. "Not really. What's up?"

"My father's cooking dinner for my aunt and uncle tonight. He said I could bring a guest if I wanted, and I really don't want to be stuck there by myself." She looked over at her phone, wondering if this was a bad idea. "Mai-chan's grounded, so I thought... maybe you would like to come over?" Oh, yes, this was a _really_ bad idea. She cringed inwardly, thinking she sounded like a grade-schooler asking a friend to come over for playtime -

"Sure!" She lifted her head and saw him grinning, his blue eyes almost sparkling with enthusiasm. "That sounds fun. I'm glad you asked, actually. Otousan and Kirie are out of town for a few days, so I've been left to fend for myself, and I have no idea what I was going to be eating tonight." He twirled the dust rag around on one finger, sneezed, and abruptly stopped. "Last night I had to eat a package of microwave curry rice, and if I'd had to stomach that again, I probably would have come begging you for leftovers..."

She felt her lips turn up at the corners. "My father's cooking is much better than a microwave."

"I know. I remember all the times he used to make us lunches..." He sighed wistfully, then turned his attention back to her. "But... are you sure about this? Your dad won't mind if I come instead of Mai-chan?"

"I don't see why it should matter. I'm sure my mom would be happy to see you." This time she actually smiled, anticipating her mother's reaction; when she'd told Hiyono that Lacuna had returned to Japan and was enrolled in Tsukiomi, the blonde woman had shrieked and flooded her daughter with questions about how he looked, how tall he was, and so on. Hiyono had always been fond of the little boy, and had encouraged the friendship between him and Mitsuko when they were both young and rather reserved. "You just have to promise not to say anything embarrassing in front of my aunt and uncle," she told him. "Otherwise I'll kick you out on the street without any dinner."

He pouted. "Pleeease don't do that."

"Sure, sure." She waved him off, beginning to collect the pieces of the chess set that had been scattered around the surface of the table. "Now finish cleaning. I don't want to be late, either."

His reply this time was much more cheerful. "Aye aye, captain!"

* * *

><p>After the Newspaper Club room had been cleaned and locked up for the weekend, Lacuna and Mitsuko had left school together and started on their walk back to the Narumi household. Narumi Ayumu had settled his family in a spacious and somewhat modern single story home in the middle of a residential area, only a short walk or drive away from the city's various businesses, schools, and parks. They had moved away from their former apartment shortly before Kyou was born, after a long search for a home that had room for their entire family and their occasional visitors. Although Mitsuko's aunt and uncle had transferred to a police department a little over an hour away from the Narumi household, they frequently came for weekend visits, and stayed in the extra bedroom that was now being converted into a nursery.<p>

Upon arriving at the house, the two students paused in the entrance room, Mitsuko easily kicking off her loafers while Lacuna had to bend to untie his shoes. The brunette cast him an impatient look before moving into the next room, poking her head into the kitchen. "Tadaima," she called, looking around. "Is anyone - "

"Okaerinasai, Mitsuko!" Hiyono's voice drifted into the room, and after a moment the blonde woman hurried in, a bright smile on her face. "How was class today?"

"Good..." She glanced over her shoulder, hearing a soft thump from the entrance. "Papa said I could invite someone to dinner tonight, so..."

On cue, Lacuna poked his head through the doorway, giving Mitsuko's mother a smile and a wave. "Hi, Hiyono-san."

"Lacuna-kun!" Hiyono sprang forward, evidently oblivious to the dirty look her daughter immediately sent her way, throwing her arms around the tall boy's waist. "It's been so long!" she said, cheerfully, smiling up at him as she hugged him tightly - or as tight as she could with her enlarged midsection in the way. "Look at how_ tall_ you've gotten... You must have grown a foot, at least."

"Not quite that much." He laughed as she released him from her embrace. "But more importantly, Hiyono-san... should I be congratulating you?" He glanced over at Mitsuko, who still wore a look of irritation. "Mitzi didn't say anything about you expecting..."

"Hehe." The blonde smiled, gently patting her abdomen. "Yes, Mitsuko will be a big sister again in a few weeks."

"That's awesome! Congratulations!"

"But," Mitsuko cut in, "my mother is in the middle of a high risk pregnancy, and is supposed to be on bed rest with only light household duties, _not_ bouncing around hugging people or running through the hallways to greet me when I come home." She tugged on the strap of her messenger bag, which was still slung over her shoulder, aching to put it down. "Anyway, is papa home yet?"

"Yes, I think he's in his study right now." Hiyono nodded in the direction of the hallway that led out of the kitchen and dining room area, folding her arms loosely on the top of her stomach. "I'm sure he would like to see Lacuna-kun again, too. There should be a little bit of time before he needs to start cooking..."

"Good." The brunette turned away from her mother, starting in the direction of the hallway. "Come on, Lacuna," she said over her shoulder, and he followed obediently, giving Hiyono a bright smile and quick bow before catching up to her. Mitsuko led them to the last room on the right, knocking once on the closed door and receiving a faint "come in" before sliding it open. "Hi, papa," she said, promptly tossing her bag to the floor, "I brought someone over for dinner."

The room that Hiyono had called a study was a warm, comfortable, and especially spacious room containing three tall bookcases filled to the brim with novels, textbooks, legal documents, and the occasional collection of sheet music. It also contained a matching couch and chair set, a glass-topped coffee table, two simple floor lamps, and an oversized, probably antique walnut desk. Ayumu sat in a tall-backed chair behind the desk, writing in a notebook. A moment after the door opened, he looked over the top of a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses, and his brown eyes widened slightly when Lacuna followed his daughter into the room. "Well," he began, removing his glasses and pushing back his chair to stand, "this is a surprise."

"It's nice to see you again, Narumi-san." Lacuna was much more reserved - and maybe a little nervous - in the presence of Narumi Ayumu, a man known well in Japan for his expert detective skills and nearly fifteen years of work as a high-profile investigator in one division of the Tokyo police department. Mitsuko was used to his presence, and quite close to him, but always felt some amusement when watching others meet him. What would these people think, she sometimes wondered, if they knew she still childishly called him "papa," and that this serious, highly intelligent man had once helped his wife put on elaborate puppet shows or built snowmen in the winter at the front of their house? As Ayumu crossed the room, Mitsuko had to stifle a giggle at Lacuna's awkward and immediate bow. "Thank you for having me - "

"You don't have to be so formal. And don't call me "Narumi-san," either. I hear that enough at work." The brown-haired man grinned slightly, and as Lacuna straightened up again, blue eyes full of surprise, Ayumu reached out to shake the teenager's hand. "Welcome back."

"Th - thank you..."

"How are you liking Tsukiomi?"

"I like it a lot." Lacuna finally broke into a smile, relaxing as Ayumu firmly shook, then released, his hand. "Although, having Mitsuko in my class is really helpful. I think I'd be lost without her."

"You've only had to ask me for help once. I hardly think that's worth mentioning, in light of how many times I've needed to borrow your English notes this week." The brunette rolled her eyes; then, turning to her father, "I hope it's okay that I brought Lacuna over. Mai-chan's grounded again."

"Hm. She's almost as much trouble as her father was at that age." He chuckled. "Either way, I don't mind. There's always extra food, even though your mother is eating enough for five people right now." He glanced at his watch, then turned to reach for a wooden cane that leaned against the side of his desk. "I suppose I should get dinner started. Your uncle will be here before too long."

Mitsuko eyed his actions with a frown. "Do you want us to help, papa?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm not making anything particularly complex. And don't worry about this." He nodded at the cane as he passed it into his left hand, starting to walk past them to the hallway with a barely noticeable limp. "My leg's acting up with the cold front coming in. It should be fine again by next week."

The brunette made a face. She gestured to Lacuna, indicating that he could leave his backpack in the room with hers, then followed her father into the hallway with her arms crossed across her chest. "It's really giving you a lot of trouble lately, papa. Don't you think you should start physical therapy again?"

"Hn." He grunted, looking over his shoulder at her. "After the baby is born, I'll consider it. It isn't bothering me."

Lacuna followed them into the kitchen, and Mitsuko could tell that he was somewhat afraid to bring up this subject, but too curious enough to refrain from asking. "Have you been in good health, Narumi-san? Mitzi - er, Mitsuko said you hadn't been in the hospital at all since I left..."

"I've been well. I'm told I can expect to have another series of surgeries as I continue aging, but there are no immediate worries... except for my children giving me a heart attack." Ayumu chuckled at this comment, tapping his cane against the floor a few times. Mitsuko didn't find this very funny, but she was used to her father's strange sense of humor about his poor health. Twenty years prior, before she had been born, her father had been permanently hospitalized and diagnosed with a degenerative disease that resulted in the gradual loss of his ability to move his limbs, starting with the left side of his body. He'd been reluctant to talk about it with his daughter when she was young, but Mitsuko had gotten the story out of him eventually anyway. As he told her, he hadn't been expected to live past age nineteen, but had stubbornly held out and undergone a long series of experimental drug tests, gene therapy sessions, and surgeries that had eventually restored his body to something at least close to full functionality. His left leg remained stubborn, causing him to sometimes walk with a limp - but it was rare to hear him speak about it, much less utter a single word of complaint. Mitsuko and her mother had both taken up nagging him about his need to return to physical therapy, but as Ayumu had said once, he was far more likely to listen to his daughter than his wife: "She's been nagging me since before you were born," he'd remarked, pointing at the blonde, "so I just tune her out most of the time."

And Narumi Hiyono, of course, was excellent at nagging... but didn't take the same kind of remarks from others very well. The brunette hopped into a chair that faced the bar side of one long kitchen counter, glancing at Lacuna as he took a seat beside her. She watched her father bend to speak softly in her mother's ear, and whatever he said changed the expression on Hiyono's face from one of curiosity to that of annoyance. "Ayumu," she began, stubbornly, "I've been in bed all day. It's _boring_. You should at least let me help!"

"This child's going to come out wanting to walk and talk on its very first day, judging by the way you've been acting for the last few weeks." He poked her in the stomach, which only seemed to increase her annoyance. Lacuna stifled laughter, giving Mitsuko a knowing look. She had to admit that the banter between her parents was always amusing. They'd been companions since her father's first year of high school at Tsukiomi, and had apparently never grown completely tired of being around each other. They had almost perfectly opposite personalities, but made such an excellent team that they both lived and worked together. "You can help by sitting down and talking to our guest," Ayumu continued, nodding to Lacuna. "I'm sure he has lots of stories from his recent travels abroad."

"I definitely do!" The white-haired teen sat up straight, his expression brightening. Hiyono reluctantly seated herself to the left of her daughter, but something in her expression seemed to indicate that she was interested. "Let's see," Lacuna began, looking upwards, "I could tell you about the time we got stranded in an airport in Beijing for three days..."

Mitsuko made a face. "That doesn't sound fun. I couldn't imagine skipping a bath for that long."

"Well... then there's what happened when we were in South America, when my dad mistakenly ordered a meal with bugs in it..."

"I don't think I could stomach that one." Hiyono laughed nervously. "Surely something else interesting must have happened?"

"Hmm..." The teen frowned, drumming his fingers along the top of the counter. "There's always the story about how Kirie got her hand stuck in a lion's mouth in Africa..."

All three of the Narumi family members looked at each other, suddenly wide-eyed, and then spoke in perfect unison: "That one."

* * *

><p>A little over an hour later, Lacuna and Mitsuko excused themselves from the dining room table and returned to Ayumu's study, announcing they were planning to work on some homework. When they reached the room, both immediately sank to the floor, groaning. "Oh my god," Mitsuko exclaimed, sliding the door closed with a sharp snap, "I thought my head was going to fall off."<p>

"Mitzi, I know I'm smart, and I know you're a borderline genius sometimes... but that..." Lacuna shook his head, running a hand back through his hair. "How does Madoka-san_ live_ with Kiyotaka-san? Half the time he's bouncing around like a giggly schoolgirl, and half the time he's talking about stuff so deep I feel like my brain's going to start leaking out of my ears."

"My uncle's definitely not normal." She kicked the floor with one foot, allowing her head to drop back and smack into the wall. "And on top of that, did you hear him laugh when you told him that story about Kirie? He knows everyone around here, including her. He even said Inoue-sensei used to be his neighbor. I feel like he has more dirt on everyone than I could ever hope to have..."

"Ugh." The white-haired teen sprawled out on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. "After that, I don't even feel like _thinking_ about doing homework."

"Me either, but if I didn't get out of there, all that talk about string theory..." Mitsuko closed her eyes. "This is why I always asked Mai-chan to come over on these kinds of nights. It was so much easier to get away from the table when I had someone else there. I used to be able to use Kyou as an excuse, when he was little, but you saw how interested he was in all of that. His head's like a freaking_ sponge_." She kicked the floor again, a little more savagely this time. "Tomorrow morning, I'm probably going to find him at the kitchen table with my uncle debating some other random subject."

"Hrm..." Lacuna sounded tired. "What do you want to do? I've got nowhere to go until you kick me out, since my dad and Kirie are away until next week."

"I don't know." She thought for a moment, then opened her eyes again. "We could call Mai-chan and see if she's allowed visitors."

"She's not. She sent me a message earlier saying she was on lockdown in her room for the night." He laughed. "She must have done something really bad this time, but she wouldn't spill the dirt yet..." After a pause, he tilted his head back, shrugging at her. "What do normal teenagers do on the weekends around here? Do you want to go see a movie or something?"

"That's a very normal teenager-type thing to do." She couldn't help but smile. "I guess I could see what's playing."

His expression brightened. "You know, I really wanted to see that one about the girl that got possessed by demons and - "

"_NO_." The brunette cut him off firmly, rising to her feet. "I can't handle that junk. Even though I know it's fake, I end up screaming my head off."

"Awww, I wanna hear you do that... I bet it's cute."

"No. And it's not. You'd be deaf in half an hour." She reached for the door. "Stay here. I'll check online and see what's showing tonight. I don't know why my dad doesn't have a computer in here..."

Lacuna beamed at her from the floor. "I'll be waiting!"

Mitsuko rolled her eyes as she slid open the door and proceeded into the hallway. Although part of her was irritated by her friend's constant cheerfulness and tendency to say somewhat stupid things, she had to admit that she found it hard to really dislike his company. It wasn't all that different from the way her parents were, truthfully. And they got along well enough... so that was at least a _little_ encouraging, wasn't it?

As she started to the second door in the hallway, the one that led to her bedroom, she could hear the sound of voices from the dining room nearby. Her uncle's voice was suddenly clear, faint but still distinguishable, and something about his tone caused her to stop in her tracks, one hand on her half-open door. "... identical to his father," she heard Kiyotaka say, and there was a murmur of agreement from someone who may have been her father. "Isn't he?"

"Yes... although I believe he's much taller than Rutherford-san." Hiyono ended this observation with a light giggle, and Mitsuko realized that they were talking about Lacuna. "His mother must have been very tall herself, don't you think?"

"Hm." Kiyotaka's voice was unusually cold. "Perhaps it is from his grandfather's genes."

Madoka's contribution to this conversation was difficult to hear, and the brunette found herself straining to hear her aunt's words. "Speaking of which, Eyes still doesn't know...?"

"No." Ayumu spoke now, sounding just as serious as Kiyotaka. "Tsuchiya said there wasn't enough DNA available from the others to determine her identity. And even with the data from the Mikanagi File, or what we know about the remaining children, there just isn't enough to go off of." He paused, and Mitsuko felt her heart begin to beat rapidly, her mind struggling to make sense of the things she was hearing. "But the boy hasn't shown any signs of remembering what happened. With that in mind, it seems best to... let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak."

"It's sad..." Hiyono sounded sympathetic. "I couldn't imagine not knowing your mother..."

"In this case, it might be a blessing." The brunette's eyes went wide; her uncle's voice was decidedly cold now, sending a shiver down her spine. Something was not right here - what were they talking about? Why would they need to determine an identity - the identity of Lacuna's mother? In her panic, she almost missed the next line that Kiyotaka spoke: "The circumstances under which he came to exist were certainly not ideal. It would be best for everyone to carry on as if nothing was ever out of the ordinary."

Something in his brother's words seemed to annoy Ayumu, who began speaking quickly. "That may be so, but if Rutherford never learns the truth - "

"Mitzi?" A hand suddenly settled on the brunette's shoulder, and she fought hard to suppress the shriek of surprise that instantly rose into her throat. She turned to face Lacuna, who stared down into her face with a confused expression, his head tilting to one side. "What are you doing out here?"

"N - nothing - I was going into my room - and - " She closed her eyes, briefly, trying to pull herself together. Her heart and mind were both racing, and it was a struggle for her to focus on anything that wasn't the conversation she had just overheard. As she opened her eyes, she realized that the sounds of speaking in the dining room had ceased; instead she heard a chair scraping against the floor, and the murmur of someone speaking to someone else. Of course they'd heard Lacuna, and whoever was coming their way would probably realize she had been standing there listening if she didn't move fast enough. She had to think quickly of a way out - there _had_ to be a way out, there always was - but her mind simply wasn't clear enough to come up with a believable excuse or action to cover her tracks. So she deferred to her last resort: to hide. "Come on," she hissed, and quickly pushed a very surprised Lacuna through the door of her room. "I'll explain in a second," she said, and slid the door closed with a snap. They stood in the dark for a moment, Mitsuko listening for the sound of footsteps in the hallway, but no one ever came. After nearly a minute of silence she let out her breath and fumbled for the light switch. "Thank god," she muttered, shaking her head as the room was flooded with light, "that could have been really bad..."

"What was that all about?" Lacuna had somehow known to keep quiet - internally, Mitsuko was counting her blessings again, just for that - and leaned back against the wall of her bedroom, his arms crossed across his chest. "Were you eavesdropping on your parents?"

"I really didn't mean to, I just heard something that..." She shuddered suddenly, remembering the coldness of her uncle's voice. "... something strange," she finished; then, looking up at him, "I'm sorry. I panicked."

"It's okay. I was just worried." He smiled down at her, then lifted his head to survey the room. "Nice place you've got here."

"Funny." She lifted a hand to rub her forehead, sighing a little as she crossed the room to flop down on the edge of her futon. "It's the same as it was the last time you saw it, except for my computer... my mom gave me her old one when she upgraded." She watched as the white-haired teen settled into her computer chair, a slight smile creasing her lips. "And the chair... that was a gift from my dad."

"It's pretty comfortable." He stretched out his long legs, leaning back as far as the chair would allow him. "So what did you hear out there? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

She bit her lip, turning her eyes away for a moment. Clearly the discussion in the dining room had been about Lacuna and his mother - and although she'd heard only a little, what she had heard seemed as if it was a complete contrast to what she'd been told over the course of her childhood. Remembering her father's words, and her uncle's cold tone, she couldn't help but shiver. It just didn't make sense. How could they not have known the identity of Lacuna's mother? She had heard of fatherless children, but never motherless ones. How could that be possible? But she had heard it with her own two ears, heard her uncle's ominous comments...

_I couldn't imagine not knowing your mother..._

_In this case, it might be a blessing._

"... Mitzi?"

"I'm sorry." She shook her head, rubbing her forehead a second time. "Listen... Lacuna... What I heard isn't that important. I wasn't trying to listen in, anyway..."

He tilted his head, a concerned expression on his face. "You heard something that scared you, though, right? Just the look on your face right now..."

She looked up at him, into his eyes, and knew that she would never be able to convince him that what she had heard was of no consequence. She was afraid of saying something, or asking a question, that would hurt him... but she felt an urge to make some sense of what she had heard. "This will sound strange," she began, softly, "but... can I ask you... what you know about your mother?"

"My mother?" With those words his usually cheerful expression seemed to darken; he spun around in her chair to face the flat panel monitor attached to her computer, reaching out to press the power button with one finger. "Is that what they were talking about?" he asked, his face suddenly awash with bright light from the screen.

"I think so." She stared down at the floor, already wondering if this was a bad idea. "At least, my uncle was..."

"To be perfectly honest, I really don't know anything about her." Lacuna's voice was more quiet than normal, but not sad; Mitsuko couldn't tell if the happy tone was forced or genuine. "My father hates to talk about her, and Kirie always changes the subject when it comes up. The only thing they've ever told me is that she raised me in Paris until she passed away, and after that was when otousan came to adopt me." He paused for a moment, then: "I remember him saying once that he wishes I had been in his care from the start... something to do with losing valuable time with me as a child, I guess."

Mitsuko was silent, and as she lifted her eyes again, she saw that he had taken hold of her mouse and was in the process of opening an internet browser. As his fingers clicked across the surface of her keyboard, her father's words were echoing in her head - _there wasn't enough DNA available from the others to determine her identity_ - and she wondered if she had stumbled across something important, some hidden family secret, or if she had simply misheard the whole thing. She was about to decide on giving up talking about the subject when Lacuna turned, looking at her over one shoulder. "Here," he said, softly, gesturing to the monitor, "this is all that I know. A magazine published an article on me right after otousan brought me back to Japan."

This was new. She rose from her futon and walked to her computer desk, leaning down to examine the image onscreen. It was a scan of a page from a magazine, mostly text with one small color photo in the center. The photo showed a younger Eyes Rutherford, probably only twenty-five at most, carrying a small, blue-eyed boy with long white hair that hung nearly to his shoulders. The boy's arms were wrapped around the shoulders of his father, his eyes wide and fixed on the camera. "Oh," the brunette said, a bit surprised, "that's you..."

"I like my hair a lot better now," Lacuna remarked, his voice more like normal as he passed a hand across the top of the gelled and spiked part of his faux mohawk. "But... that was me almost fourteen years ago. A reporter took that picture in an airport during one of our layovers on the trip back to Japan."

"Do you remember anything from then?"

"Nothing." He shook his head slowly. "I only vaguely remember learning Japanese, and being frustrated by not being able to talk to adults. But that's the first thing I remember, and I was probably almost five then..." He gestured to the monitor again. "I found this on the internet a couple years ago, when I was bored. In the middle of this, it says they asked my dad for a comment, and he said that he never revealed my existence because he was trying to respect my mother's privacy. He also says that she died of an illness, and had no other family to speak of." His voice softened. "And that's what I try to believe, but..."

"You don't believe it?" Mitsuko's eyes involuntarily opened wide. "What do you think happened?"

"I honestly don't know." He shook his head again. "It's hard for me to believe that my mother would have kept quiet about bearing the child of a world-famous pianist, especially considering how popular my father was at the time. And..." His gaze shifted away from the screen. "... this implies that there was never any relationship to speak of... that my mother was just a..." He struggled with his words for a moment. "... a one-night-stand," he finished, finally, his voice softer than before. "But that doesn't seem like something my father would do at all. He's been with Kirie forever, and although they don't exactly have a ... normal relationship..."

The brunette's eyes scanned the screen; she caught glimpses of the phrases "secret child" and "possible blackmail" and cringed, looking away. "It doesn't seem to add up, does it?"

"No." He leaned back in her chair, looking up at her with a calm expression. "But there's nothing I can do about it. My mother is gone, and my father doesn't claim to know anything more than what I've already been told. So I have to accept what I know and move on with my life." His gaze softened. "That's what I've been trying to do, anyway... you know?"

"Mm." She glanced away, still feeling unsettled. "Sorry to pry..."

At that he actually laughed. "Don't say something like that. I don't think I ever told you any of this, anyway." He reached for the mouse again and closed the window onscreen, shrugging his shoulders. "And it's a little strange to think that Kiyotaka-san wouldn't have just asked me, if there was something he wanted to know."

Mitsuko swallowed, hard, thinking that her uncle probably knew more than either of them - and that was not something she was comfortable with. "Yeah," she agreed, carefully, "it is strange..."

"So." Lacuna spun away from her computer, placing his hands on his knees and looking up at her. "Enough of that. What about that movie?"

"I don't think I'm in the mood." The brunette reached up to push a heavy section of curls out of her face, sighing. "Maybe we should just stay here and play a video game or something..."

"Now that's one thing I'm sure I can beat you at." He grinned. "Still have that racing game?"

* * *

><p>Lacuna had, in fact, been correct: he was excellent at video games, and had thoroughly schooled Mitsuko in a racing game before they'd switched to a puzzle game that he'd also been quite good at. After a few hours of play, Ayumu had opened the door to check on them, and at that point the teenager had decided to head home for the evening. He'd happily wished everyone goodnight as Mitsuko accompanied him to the front door, and had to promise Hiyono that he would visit more often before she allowed him to leave. He did promise her this, and also commented to Mitsuko and Kyou that it would be fun to see a movie the next day - as long as it wasn't a horror movie, of course. Upon his departure, Kiyotaka had cheerfully commented that he really was the spitting image of Eyes Rutherford, and hearing those words again put Mitsuko in such a mood that she almost immediately retired for the evening.<p>

She'd bathed and dressed for bed slowly, trying to think of anything but the cryptic conversation she'd overhead, but ultimately she failed. Not even an hour spent tackling her homework for the weekend had pulled her mind away from those thoughts. She continued to hear it all again in her mind, the comments repeating themselves over and over again, now intermingled with what Lacuna had told her about his mother. Something wasn't adding up, and as she clicked off the light in her bedroom and slid into bed, she thought to herself that this was perhaps even more frustrating than the Blade Children mystery she'd been trying to solve a few days before. But in this case, she had some facts... just not the right ones, perhaps.

"This is just way more than I want to deal with right now," she muttered, and rolled onto her stomach, folding her arms below her head. She would just have to give it some more thought in the morning, when she had a clear head. She'd tried the same tactic with the Blade Children postcard, still resting securely beneath her keyboard... and while it hadn't worked yet, she felt as if she was close to a breakthrough. She yawned, closing her eyes, going over all the plausible anagrams she had retrieved from the cryptic phrase over the course of the last few days of on-and-off work. _A bench drilled, bad cell hinder, craned bell hid..._

Suddenly her eyes snapped open in the dark. Something her father had said -

_... or what we know about the remaining children ..._

_What are the Blade Children?_

She sat up in bed, brown eyes wide open, feeling her head spin with the sudden movement. Could it have been a coincidence? The message on her postcard, and her father's cryptic mention of children - could they possibly have been alluding to the same thing? Was it possible that her father knew something about the Blade Children that she had been urged to look into?

"How?" she asked aloud, the question directed to no one but herself. The word echoed in her room, and for a moment she sat still, focusing her mind, trying hard to recall everything she'd heard. Her father had said that - something about the remaining children - and then mentioned data from a file... something called the Mikanagi File, she recalled, her brows knitting together in a frown. That file contained data about children... children who potentially had something to do with Lacuna's mother...?

Mitsuko reached out to one side of her futon and picked up a small notebook with a pen attached. She flipped open the front cover and paged through the sheets rapidly, passing her fingers across the surface of the pages until she felt one that was clear of the telltale indents from her writing. She kept this notebook by her bed just for situations like this one, for sudden thoughts that came to her as she fell asleep. On the first empty page she quickly scribbled two lines, hoping her kana stayed readable in the dark:

_Mikanagi File._  
><em>Remaining (Blade) Children?<em>

And with that she placed the notebook back on the floor, face-up with the pen resting on top, and rolled over to try to sleep. She could look into this in the morning, she told herself, because there was no use working on it now. And although she'd definitely convinced herself of this fact, it still took a long time before the brunette drifted off. When she did sleep, her dreams were quiet and unsettling; in them she followed Lacuna through fields of bright flowers, staring at his back as she asked him what he knew about the Blade Children, only to be told that she would never, ever learn the truth.


	4. postcards and polaroids

Mitsuko's alarm clock chirped at her cheerfully at eight o'clock sharp on Saturday morning. The brunette woke with a start, sitting up straight in bed, drawing in a long breath before fumbling for the off switch. She'd been in the middle of a dream, something about flowers and -

Her eyes snapped to the notebook on the floor to the side of her futon. In the dim light that had crept into her bedroom around the curtains hanging over her windows, she was able to read her notes hastily scribbled from the evening before: _Mikanagi File. Remaining (Blade) Children?_ She stared hard at the page for a moment, thinking, before she heaved a heavy sigh and rose from her bed. She had work to do.

The brunette didn't bother to change out of her pajamas before she began, only moving to draw open the curtains and let some light in before settling down in the leather chair at her computer desk. As her computer started up, she pulled her half-curly, half-wavy locks of hair up into a high ponytail, securing the mass with a nearby elastic. When the login prompt appeared, she typed in her password, then lifted her keyboard to retrieve the postcard that had been hidden underneath. "Blade Children," she said, softly, "I am going to find out what you are today."

Only minutes later, her research was well underway, her browser filled with open and unexplored tabs. She had started again with the phrase "Blade Children," finding nothing as she had the first time. No pages bore this phrase, in either kana or English. Then she had moved to "Mikanagi File"... and again, nothing. But then she'd tried simply "Mikanagi," and the results had been more promising. She'd opened encyclopedia pages, news articles, and various other sources. She had guessed that Mikanagi was a family name, and these results seemed to indicate that she was correct. But, she thought, narrowing her eyes, how would she know which Mikanagi was related to this supposed, mysterious "file"...?

After twenty minutes of idly reading and closing tabs, she came to one of her previously opened encyclopedia articles - and something made her sit up straight in her chair, as if she'd been shocked. The page was small, and lacking detail, but something in it made her pay attention:

_... Professor Isabel Mikanagi was a leading researcher in the field of DNA and genetic manipulation and replication. At age thirty-nine, Mikanagi was found deceased in her laboratory ... Her death was later ruled to be a suicide. At the time, it was rumored that Mikanagi took her own life in order to preserve sensitive information related to one of her projects._

"Isabel Mikanagi." She stared at the text, open-mouthed. "Is it you?" she asked, almost breathless. "The information that you tried to preserve... Could that be the Mikanagi File?"

She opened another tab and typed the professor's name into a search engine, rapidly clicking through the results that followed. Published reports, an article on her suicide, another biography... she poured over the information, reading it all as quickly as possible, but nothing else jumped out at her as out of the ordinary. The only thing that seemed strange was that this highly successful, intelligent woman had taken her own life. She began to wonder, slowly, if she had found a lead after all. She'd felt some sort of connection to her, to the detail, but...

"A rumor could just be a rumor," she murmured, and closed a tab, frowning. "There could have been a reason..."

Her cursor moved to close another tab, but something made her take notice - a photo of the professor, which she hadn't yet found on any of the other pages. She opened the image file and saw a slim, somewhat pretty dark-haired woman in a white lab coat standing with a similarly-dressed man with navy hair and striking blue eyes. The caption beneath caught her attention:

_Professor Isabel Mikanagi stands with her colleague, Dr. Amanae Fusai, upon completion of their report on the potential for human cloning. The report was published today in conjunction with an unnamed sponsor._

"Human cloning, eh..." Mitsuko tilted her head to one side. "That topic was given up years ago..." She tapped one finger against her lips, thinking, before closing the image. "But let's see if you know something else, Amanae-san."

She found more of the same with a search for Amanae Fusai - reports, news articles, and a rather extensive biography. But again, upon landing on the doctor's encyclopedia page, a horrific excerpt made the brunette lean forward, her nose almost touching the monitor:

_... Amanae, his wife, and his adopted daughter, Charlotte, were killed in a house fire. His biological daughter, Amanae Yukine, was the only survivor. The causes of the fire were never discovered, but were thought to be from a carelessly discarded cigarette. ... Nine years after the incident, Amanae Yukine was charged with the murder of five junior high students and the attempted murder of one other. She was never successfully convicted and her current whereabouts are unknown._

"What the hell _happened_ to these people?" Mitsuko covered her mouth with her hands, shocked. Isabel Mikanagi had killed herself, Amanae Fusai had been burned alive, and Amanae's daughter had become a murderer? A murderer of junior high school students, on top of that? She shook her head, slowly, dropping one hand to place it on the spot on her chest where her heart was hammering away. "Why did I never hear about this?" she asked aloud, confused. "This all happened nearby..."

The bigger question was, however... what, if anything, did Mikanagi, her supposed "file," and the horrific actions of her colleague's daughter have to do with the Blade Children? She couldn't possibly make a connection like this. She could speculate, based on the little that she had found, but she couldn't even be sure that these people were related. Still, what her father had said, about the identity of Lacuna's mother...

And even with the data from the Mikanagi File, or what we know about the remaining children, there just isn't enough to go off of.

She frowned, and the action sent a throbbing into her head that told her it was time for breakfast. She could think better once she ate. Somehow, she thought, rising from her chair, she was going to find out how these things were related - what the Blade Children were, if they truly were the "children" her father had mentioned, what they had to do with Lacuna's mother... and, perhaps most importantly, what they had to do with her.

* * *

><p>After breakfast with her family - during which, predictably, Kyou and Kiyotaka had spent far more time talking than eating - Mitsuko had gone back to her room to find a text message waiting on her phone. It was from Lacuna, also an early riser apparently: "Mai's released for the weekend. Want to hang out? I'll send you the new address."<p>

"Well," she said aloud, and pecked out a short response, "it couldn't hurt. Maybe this will take my mind off of this mess for a while."

She checked the weather for the day (warm, sunny, and windy) before tossing off her pajama bottoms and t-shirt in favor of a belted tunic and leggings. After ensuring the bathroom she normally shared with Kyou was clear - she was sharing it with her aunt and uncle this weekend, too - she spent some time trying to reason with her messy hair. Though it was naturally a mixture of loose curls and tight waves that rarely ever required further styling, her restless sleep had both tangled and flattened random portions of it. After several minutes, she ended up retrieving a flat iron from a nearby cupboard and straightening the whole thing, including her bangs, which were long enough to necessitate being pinned to one side. "I need a haircut," she observed aloud, wrinkling her nose at the length of her straightened hair, which was only a few inches from reaching her waist. After ensuring everything was neat and tidy in the bathroom again, she returned to her room to grab her purse and a pair of tall boots - and a lightweight coat, she decided, turning to retrieve it before she proceeded out into the hallway. It was better to be warm than cold, after all.

"I'm going out," she announced to no one in particular, walking through the kitchen and dining area. "Be back lat - "

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Ayumu cut her off easily, looking up from his position at the sink, where he was washing out a pot used to prepare part of the family's breakfast. "I thought Mai was grounded."

"She was. She's out now, though." Mitsuko tossed her boots and bag to the ground, putting on her coat. "I'm going to Lacuna's. Mai-chan's already there."

The dark-haired man sighed. "I remember when you used to ask for permission to go out like this..."

"And _I_ remember when you used to rush out without even telling me where you were going." Madoka gave her brother-in-law a grin from her position at the dining room table, where she still sat nursing a cup of coffee, Kyou perched in the chair beside her with his nose in a book. "Don't you?"

Ayumu made a face, but seemed to know he had been defeated. "I suppose that's fair," he replied; then, turning to his daughter, "be back before six. We're going out for dinner tonight."

"Really? Okay." Mitsuko reached for her bag. "Well then, I'll be back - "

"Ah, oneechan." Kyou suddenly interrupted, looking up from his novel. "I forgot. You got something in the mail yesterday. It didn't have a stamp, so I guess someone just dropped it in the box?"

"... mail?" The brunette stopped in her tracks, bent over with one hand on the strap of her purse. "Wh - where is it?" she asked, and her voice sounded as if it was coming from somewhere very far away. "You didn't open it, did you?"

"Why would I? It's on the counter." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her brother gesture at the very end of the bar facing the kitchen - and there, resting face-up, was a plain white envelope. She straightened up, and upon looking again, could just barely make out her name written on the front. "Sorry," Kyou continued, looking to his book again, "I forgot until just now. It was there when I got home from school yesterday."

She swallowed, hard, and walked to the counter as steadily as she could. No one was watching her, she observed, and this on its own made her feel better. But this envelope... She picked it up, turning it over in her hands, and through the thin white paper she could make out the size and shape of a postcard. It was another one, just like the first - the one that had contained the Blade Children message. Someone _was_ trying to tell her something!

She dropped the envelope and her purse and abruptly ran from the kitchen, back to her room. In a flash she lifted her keyboard, pulled out the postcard she'd hidden there, and then sprinted back down the hallway into the room. This time everyone was watching, and her aunt gave her a curious look, her coffee mug halfway to her mouth. "Mitsuko?" she asked. "Is everything - "

"Everything's fine. I just - " She stumbled over her words, and grabbed the envelope, her bag, and her boots as quickly as she could. "I just need to bring this to Mai," she lied, avoiding looking at anyone, especially her father, who could always tell in an instant whether or not she was being truthful. "I'll be back later!" she called over one shoulder, bolting for the entranceway, and practically fell over as she raced to put on her boots and loop the strap of her bag over one shoulder. "Ittekimasu!" she yelled, and ran through the front door as fast as she could. She could explain later what had happened, if anyone asked - for now, she had bigger things to worry about.

* * *

><p>"It started when she fell from the roof."<p>

"What the hell does _that_ mean?"

"Got me."

Mitsuko groaned. She'd sprinted to the Rutherford house as quickly as her legs had been able to carry her, guessing that she hadn't tripped or fallen in her boots only because the adrenaline had kept her upright. She hadn't opened the envelope or examined the new postcard until after she'd arrived, throwing off her shoes and coat and rushing past Lacuna and Mai despite their curious expressions. When she'd pulled out the new piece of mail, she'd been treated to another image of Tokyo Tower on the front, and on the back, yet another cryptic message...

_It started when she fell from the roof._

"What's all this about, Mitzi?" Lacuna stared down at her, appearing bewildered, and the brunette imagined that she looked ridiculous - out of breath, her hair tangled by the wind, her hands shaking and eyes wide. "Who sent you this?"

"I don't know," she answered, gulping down air, and pressed her hands against the edge of the large dining table to steady herself. They were all standing in the dining area, Lacuna and Mai apparently just having finished breakfast - why Mai hadn't eaten at home, Mitsuko didn't want to know - and her friends stood on either side of her, currently exchanging a look that seemed to indicate neither of them knew what was wrong with the brunette. "It's like the first one," she said, nodding at Mai, "the one about the Blade Children - the one I told you about - "

"Oh yeah! I remember that." The dark-haired girl tilted her head, crossing her arms. "From your anonymous sender, right?"

"Blade Children?" Lacuna looked from girl to girl, his expression now even more clueless. "_Huh?_"

"Here." Mitsuko slid the first postcard to her right, flipping it over so that the message was visible. "Someone sent me this the day before we started at Tsukiomi. It says "what are the Blade Children?" ... and it was dropped in our mail slot, so there's no stamp or return address. It was addressed to me." She paused to take in another breath, shaking her head a few times to clear her mind. "Yesterday, a second postcard came. I didn't see it until this morning." She slid the second postcard to a spot beside the first, moving the envelope with it. "The envelope is the same as the first one, although I had thrown that one away. The handwriting is the same, and the photos on the front are both of Tokyo Tower."

"What are the Blade Children...?"

"I have no idea." She shook her head at the tall boy. "I researched it, and tried anagrams and codes, but the only lead I have..." At that she hesitated, unsure how much she should reveal to Lacuna - after all, she hadn't really told him how much she'd overheard about the subject of his mother - but she knew the truth would have to come out eventually, in one way or another. "... when I overheard my father last night, he was saying something about "remaining children," and something called the Mikanagi File. I looked into that this morning. But even still, I haven't been able to find anything definite in my research."

Lacuna's blue eyes narrowed as he stared down at the messages. "So you don't know what this one means, either...?"

She shook her head. "It's so vague... how could I? I don't even know if it's related to the first message." She sighed. "Maybe this is someone playing a prank on me after all. All of my research has led me to dead ends..."

"It started when ... eh?" Mai suddenly looked up, as if she'd remembered something. "It started when she fell from the roof," she repeated slowly, thoughtfully, then drew her brows together into a frown. "I wonder if..."

Mitsuko and Lacuna exchanged glances. "Mai-chan?" the brunette ventured, surprised. "Do you know something?"

Mai looked across the table at the postcard. "Do you think it could be talking about the girl who fell from the emergency stairwell at Tsukiomi?" she asked. "That could be it..."

"What?" Mitsuko stared at her friend, her mouth falling open. "When did_ that_ happen?"

"You don't know?" The raven-haired girl, blinked, looking from Lacuna to Mitsuko; both teens shook their heads. "Oh, well," she said, shrugging, "I guess you wouldn't. But it was something that happened when my parents - well, our parents - were in high school. I only know about it because I found a bunch of old news articles when I was poking around online for information on schools."

"What happened?" Lacuna leaned forward, apparently interested. "Was it an accident? Or suicide?"

"No." Mai shook her head now. "It was a murder."

Mitsuko's eyes went wide with shock. "There was a murder at Tsukiomi?"

"Several, actually..."

"_Several?_"

"Wow, I'm surprised you didn't know any of this. You're usually so well-read about everything." Mai laughed, but the serious look on her friend's face seemed to quell her urge to joke almost immediately. She cleared her throat, pausing before turning her head to address Lacuna. "Lakkun... can we use your computer for a minute? I don't think I remember enough about this to explain it..."

"Sure. This way." He motioned for them to follow, and all three teens proceeded out of the dining area, up a set of stairs, and down a long hallway. Mitsuko was too focused on the subject at hand to look around much, but she did notice that the home was well-furnished and comfortable - a sure sign of Eyes Rutherford's wealth. When they reached the final doorway, Lacuna gave both girls a sheepish look, rubbing the back of his neck. "You'll have to excuse the mess, since I'm not done unpacking yet..."

"Whatever. Can't be worse than my room." Mai rolled her eyes, brushing past him through the open doorway. Mitsuko smiled slightly, following, and immediately had to bite her tongue to keep from gasping at the size of her friend's bedroom. She'd seen how large the house was, from the outside, but this room was huge. There were several large boxes along one wall, but his (king-sized) bed, computer desk, two tall bookshelves, and several instruments had already been unpacked and put in place. She also noticed that there was not just one, but several electric guitars - and an electric piano, which her fingers instantly ached to play. But she had more important things to consider right now. "Okay," Mai said, apparently completely underwhelmed by the size of Lacuna's living space, "Mitsuko, you can sit. You're better with computers than I am."

"Okay..." She pulled out the chair that had been placed in front of the metal and glass computer desk, reaching absently for the power buttons on the tower and monitor. As the system booted, she looked back over her shoulder, watching Mai drag over a large box to act as her chair while Lacuna remained standing. "What should I be looking for?" she asked the younger girl. "Do you remember how you found out about this?"

"Yeah, I remember exactly." Mai crossed her legs, giving an abrupt laugh. "Just search for "Tsukiomi" and head to page five of the results. It's buried - maybe on purpose - but there's a news article from years ago that goes into detail about the whole thing." She gave the brunette a skeptical look. "Are you _sure_ you didn't already know about this? You've never had to ask me for research advice."

"There's a first time for everything..." The computer had loaded its operating system, and Mitsuko immediately opened an internet browser, jealous of how much faster Lacuna's PC was when compared to her own. She followed Mai's instructions, typing "Tsukiomi" into the search bar, pressing enter, and clicking on the fifth page of results. She scanned the page that loaded, and sure enough, halfway down she saw a link to a story on a reputable news website - something titled "Exploring the murder mysteries at private high school." An appropriately sensational title, of course. "This is it, right?" she asked.

"Yep." Mai nodded. "That's the one."

"Okay." The older girl clicked the link, and after the page loaded, began to scan the text for the appropriate starting point. "Murder mysteries, private high school..." she murmured; then, scrolling down a little, found a point at which to begin reading aloud. "The saga began," she started, "when 11th grade student Munemiya Kana-san was found dead on the school grounds of Tsukiomi Gakuen after falling through a broken fence on the sixth floor emergency stairwell. Although initially thought to be an accident or suicide, the case was ruled a murder by lead investigator Narumi - " Her eyebrows suddenly shot up. "Narumi Madoka?"

"Your aunt?" Lacuna leaned down, closer to the screen, his eyes wide. "Whoa, weird..."

"I didn't notice that the first time I read this." Mai's expression was one of surprise as well. "What else does it say?"

The brunette leaned a little closer to the monitor, keeping her finger on the mouse's scroll wheel so that she could continue moving down the page as necessary. "The lead investigator determined that Munemiya-san had been killed by fellow 11th grade student Nohara Mizue-san. Although Nohara-san was not present on the stairwell at the time of Munemiya-san's fall, evidence collected at the time of the crime showed that both Munemiya-san's prescription glasses and the sixth floor security gate had been tampered with, causing the girl to fall to her death. Nohara-san was found to have removed lens fragments from the glasses from the scene of the crime, and to have created a situation in which Munemiya-san would be present at the site of the defective gate." Mitsuko glanced at the next sentence and drew in a sharp breath, unsettled by what she was about to read: "A few days later, Nohara-san herself was murdered by Tsuji Ikuo-san, another 11th grade student."

"Two murders..." Lacuna shook his head, slowly, leaning further over the back of the chair Mitsuko currently occupied. "I had no idea this kind of thing happened at Tsukiomi."

"Keep reading." Mai nodded at the screen. "There's a lot more to this whole thing."

"... there is." Mitsuko's eyebrows raised again as she resumed reading. "The police department announced, after Nohara-san's death, that she had been the prime suspect in the attempted murder of Sonobe Takashi-sensei, a 51-year old instructor at Yozakura High School. It was revealed that Munemiya-san had witnessed Nohara-san's involvement in this crime, and had urged the girl to turn herself in. After Munemiya-san's death, Nohara-san was murdered in the stairwell at Tsukiomi Gakuen by Tsuji-san, who was a reported love interest of Munemiya-san." Mitsuko paused, attempting to sort out the details of this case. "So Nohara first tried to kill this teacher, then successfully killed the girl who witnessed her comitting the crime. She was murdered by Tsuji, supposedly seeking revenge for Munemiya."

"Quite a strange web of affairs." Lacuna frowned, his voice growing even more serious than before. "Why was Sonobe involved? If Nohara was a Tsukiomi student from the very start, she shouldn't have had any involvement with a teacher from another high school."

"There's no data on that." The brunette shook her head, her eyes scanning the rest of the article - then stopping, abruptly, on a line near the bottom. "What the _hell_?" she gasped. "Sonobe - "

"Sonobe regained consciousness, but was later found brutally murdered in his bed at the local hospital." Mai spoke up again, quietly, not referring to the information onscreen as she spoke. "And this was after Nohara had been killed, and Tsuji taken into police custody. Sonobe's murderer, along with the murder weapon, was never found. The police department never released any information on their suspects, or the motive of the killer. Tsuji was found dead at a later date as a result of unknown causes."

"Three... no, four murders," Lacuna said, softly. "This is... frightening..."

"It started when she fell from the roof." Mitsuko recalled that phrase again, biting down on her bottom lip for a moment before speaking again, turning in her chair to look up at Lacuna and Mai. "Do you think this is what the postcard is about...? These events?"

Mai folded her arms, appearing both frustrated and thoughtful. "Munemiya didn't fall from the roof, but I suppose it was close enough. But... even if this is what your message writer is referring to, what do they mean by "it"? And how do these things tie in to the card you received about the Blade Children?"

"Well..." The girls looked to Lacuna, who had moved to lean against the side of his desk, holding one hand to his chin. "There are two unanswered questions in the story we've just read: one, why Nohara attempted to kill Sonobe, and two, who actually killed him. We can probably assume that Munemiya was killed due to her witnessing of Nohara's crime, and Tsuji killed Nohara out of his own grief - "

"Do you really think so?" Mitsuko interrupted him, shaking her head. "Of course that's what this article is implying, but I think there is more to it. There's no data here suggesting that Tsuji and Munemiya were ever actually involved. And how this was worded is important..." She turned back to the screen, pointing at one specific line. "Tsuji-san, a reported love interest of Munemiya-san. We've made the assumption that Munemiya's feelings were reciprocated, but this is never implied. On top of this, would a normal high school student be willing to commit murder in the name of revenge, even if their closest friend had been killed?" She glanced over her shoulder at her two companions, who reluctantly shook their heads. "There is more to this story," she told them, her expression darkening, "beginning with the motive for Nohara's attempted murder. We just have to find out what we're missing."

"But how are you going to do that?" Lacuna stared down at the brunette, his blue eyes opened wide. "All four of them are dead, and the investigators employed in the police department at the time - " Suddenly he stopped, gasping. "You can't possibly be thinking of questioning Madoka-san?"

"It might be my only choice." She reached for his computer mouse and closed the window on the screen, then stood, looking at each of her friends in turn. "Someone is trying to tell me something. If I can speak with my aunt about these events, I may be able to find out what "it" is. Also, she might know something about the Blade Children that are mentioned on the first postcard. It could be that "it" refers to something involving the Blade Children, and also involving the death of Sonobe." She pushed Lacuna's chair back into place. "I know I've involved you two in this, now, but this is something I'll have to do alone. My aunt is..." She struggled to find the right word. "... sensitive, sometimes, about these things."

"There has to be _something_ we can do to help." Mai tilted her head to one side. "Haven't you asked your parents about this, though? Your dad's a freaking genius, after all. If anyone would know what these messages meant, it'd be him, right?"

"I..." Mitsuko bit down on her lower lip, looking away. "I can't explain it, but I have the feeling that this is something I need to keep from them. The way the messages were delivered created situations in which anyone could have seen them, but..." She paused, thinking back to the conversation she'd overheard the evening before - the way her uncle had spoken of people carrying on like normal, as if nothing was ever out of the ordinary. "I have the feeling they are keeping something from us," she finished, softly, shaking her head. "And I've never had this feeling before now, but - "

"But you really overheard some weird things last night, huh?" Lacuna sounded sympathetic. "Mitzi... this is all really weird, but... I'm a little worried that you could be making a mountain out of a molehill. Someone could be leading you on, trying to make you investigate something that isn't important..."

"Or someone could be trying to tell her something." Mai rose, nudging the box she'd been using as a seat back into place with one foot. "Maybe it's something her parents don't even know about. She'll never know until she tries to investigate further."

"But what if it's something really dangerous? We're talking about murders, including one that's gone unsolved for twenty years." The white-haired teen frowned at Mai over the top of Mitsuko's head. "What if someone's trying to lure her into a trap? Or worse? I don't want Mitzi getting hurt."

Mitsuko felt herself blush, caught off guard by the protective tone of Lacuna's voice. "Hey," she started, gently, "I don't think - "

"That's sweet." Mai cut off the brunette, her tone sarcastic. "You really think somebody's going to come after her? If there was someone out to get her, they've already had plenty of opportunities to kill her. She walks to and from school every single morning without an adult, y'know. I doubt a cold-blooded murderer would leave notes on a postcard in the mail slot."

"... Mai-chan - "

"You don't know anything about the intentions of a murderer, Mai! How would you feel if she got hurt?"

"How would you feel if we missed out on solving a huge mystery? You're being way too overprotective. Since when do you care so much?"

"I've always - "

"Would you care if it was _me_ getting those postcards, huh?"

"Now you're just being ridiculous..."

"Like you're being completely sensible?"

"Mai, you've been acting like this ever since I got back - "

"Like what? Like _myself_? I always knew you favored _her_ over_ me_ - "

"Stop it!" Mitsuko finally had enough, and she stepped between Lacuna and Mai, staring at them both in turn with what she hoped was a fierce glare. Lacuna's expression softened immediately, and he backed up, but Mai glowered at the brunette, evidently still mad. "Look," the older girl began, glancing between her friends, "I don't know what this is about, and I sure as hell don't think anyone favors anyone over anyone else in this room. We're all friends. Right?" She looked up at Lacuna, who nodded, but the raven-haired girl simply began to sulk, staring at the floor. "... Mai-chan," Mitsuko tried again, a little more gently this time, "come on. Lakkun's just looking out for us. And I know he'd be just as protective of you, if you were getting these stupid postcards."

"... whatever." Mai tossed her hair. "You guys have been together a week and you're already fucking inseparable. It's sickening."

"And you're acting like you're jealous." Mitsuko didn't hold back, and the shocked expression on her friend's face was somehow satisfying. "I don't know what you have to be upset about," she said, shaking her head as she turned to face the younger girl, "but like I said... we're all friends. If anything, I'm the one who had something to be jealous of." She felt a little nervous at this admission, but there was really no point in keeping that thought to herself any longer. "He's trying to look out for us, just like you've been looking out for me. Remember how you used to threaten to beat up the girls who picked on me on the playground?"

Mai's lips tweaked slightly, as if she was fighting back a smile. "They were such bitches," she muttered.

Lacuna chimed in now, from over Mitsuko's shoulder. "Remember when you taught me karate? Kirie screamed at me when I tried to use it, but it was worth it."

"... yeah. I guess I get what you're saying." The dark-haired girl finally lifted her head, looking from Lacuna to Mitsuko. "Sorry."

"It happens." Mitsuko smiled. "I think we're all a little stressed about this whole thing. We should find something to do that will take our minds off of everything for the time being. Whether or not I decide to investigate this further, it won't do us any good to sit around here looking on the internet for clues."

"Mm..." Suddenly Mai's face brightened, and she straightened up, her green eyes widening. "I totally forgot!" she exclaimed. "My dad snuck me some tickets for that new horror movie, the one about the girl who gets possessed by demons and gets dragged around the hallways by her hair. He knew I would love it, and I know how much Lakkun likes cheesy horror stuff. We should go see that!"

"Oh my god," the brunette muttered, facepalming as Lacuna began to crack up behind her. "Sure, whatever," she commented, waving her free hand at the younger girl. "I don't know who sees a scary movie at ten in the morning, but you both want to see that, so let's go..."

"Yay! I'll go get the tickets!"

"Great..." Mitsuko watched as Mai practically skipped out of the room. As soon as the younger girl was out of sight, she groaned, slumping against the back of Lacuna's computer chair. "You guys are going to be the death of me," she remarked, staring up at the ceiling. "You've been together again for a week and Mai's already been grounded multiple times, you're dragging me to a horror movie, and I have to see you almost every - _eep!_" She squeaked, suddenly, surprised, as a strong pair of arms pulled her into a hug. Her face burned instantly, and she stared up at a smiling Lacuna with very wide eyes. "What the hell are you - "

"You called me Lakkun." He bent to rest his chin on the top of her head, the action causing her whole body to burn. She was not used to being touched like this. Only her mother ever hugged her - or her father, on very rare occasions. "I thought you'd forgotten," he murmured.

"I didn't call you..." she began, then stopped, remembering one of her recent sentences. "... ah. I did."

"I'm sorry, Mitzi." He released her, laughing softly. "I couldn't help it. Mai's been in a mood all week, and to hear you stand up to her..."

"It's nothing." She looked away, absently rubbing at one cheek, hoping the blush would go away before the younger girl got back. "It's not like you guys to fight like that. The last thing I want is to be in the middle of some argument about who cares about who more."

His voice was quiet, and when she lifted her head to hear him speak, there was some emotion in his dark blue eyes that she couldn't quite place. "Were you really jealous of us?"

She gaped up at him, stunned by how easily he had asked that question - but before she could answer, Mai bounded back into the room with the tickets in hand, and then Lacuna cracked a joke and it was all forgotten. But even an hour later, as the movie was beginning and Mitsuko was already covering her eyes with her hands, that look in his eyes lingered in her mind, almost haunted her... and somehow she had a feeling that she'd be giving that exchange more thought than the new postcard.

* * *

><p>Hours later, Mitsuko slipped through the front door of the Narumi household, kicking off her boots with a heavy sigh. Her day had been mentally exhausting, and she was feeling its effects: the combination of the second postcard, Lacuna and Mai's fight, and the the two movies she'd seen with her friends had resulted in her feeling completely drained. She guessed it hadn't helped that she had slept so poorly the night before, too. Her throat hurt from screaming at the ridiculous horror movie she'd been subjected to - although she'd spent a large majority of it with her face buried in either her arms or against Lacuna's shoulder, much to his amusement - and her eyes hurt from sitting so close to the screen for the second film they'd decided to try, a vivid and colorful animated piece from a famous studio. All she wanted was to get inside and take a nap before dinner with her family, because that had the potential to be even worse.<p>

She shed her coat, picking up her bag, and began to walk into the house. "Tadaima," she called, then suddenly had to stop in place to keep from bumping into someone coming through the doorway from the kitchen. "Papa!" she exclaimed.

"Okaeri." Ayumu gave his daughter a smile at the somewhat surprised expression on her face. He was wearing slacks and a long black coat, his cane in one hand. "I was just going out," he said, leaning on his cane. "Your mother took Kyou shopping with your aunt and uncle."

"You didn't want to go?" She returned his smile, watching an instantly annoyed expression appear on his face. "I know," she continued, laughing, "that was a joke. But where are you going?"

"There's something I have to do today." He paused. "Would you like to come with me? It's a short walk."

"Hmm..." She considered this for a moment, almost hearing her aching feet scream their objections at her - but it was rare that her father asked her to accompany him anywhere, and he was using his cane again, so she thought it was probably a good idea to keep an eye on him. "Sure," she answered, and turned on her heel to retrieve her boots again. "Where are we going?"

"The cemetery."

"... eh?" She stared at him. "Why there?"

"You'll see." He moved into the entranceway, bending to slip on a pair of black shoes, like those he typically wore to work with a suit and tie. "Don't worry about changing," he remarked, gesturing to the coat she'd only just placed on a hook, which was cream-colored wool with brown buttons to match her boots. "This isn't a time when many people will be giving their respects, so there's no need to dress in black."

"But you're wearing black, papa."

"And do you really want to dress to match me?" He gave her a small smile, walking to the door - and as she slid on her coat, watching him, he stopped to hang his cane on an empty hook. "Are you coming?" he asked her over one shoulder, perhaps a bit teasingly, and as he opened the front door she followed him out, giving a quick glance at the abandoned cane. She only hoped that he really didn't need it, because if something happened while they were out... well, she wouldn't be able to carry him home, would she?

The walk was short, less than ten minutes in length, and as Ayumu quizzed his daughter on her activities that day, Mitsuko was happy to see that her father was neither limping nor grunting as he placed weight on his left leg. She described the horror movie she'd been subjected to with disdain, hearing him laugh quite uproariously at her descriptions of the (terrible) plot and tactics used to scare the viewer. It was good to hear her father laugh, and she felt a special pride at being able to do this, since it was _not_ an easy task. She listened to him talk about the lunch he'd prepared earlier - something that made her stomach rumble, as a reminder that she and her friends had skipped a meal - and the restaurant they were planning to visit that evening. After a few minutes they had left the residential area, and a small shrine came into view at the bottom of a small hill, a field of gravestones beside it. "Is that the cemetery?" Mitsuko asked, softly.

"Yes." Ayumu nodded. "That's it."

Neither spoke again as they continued their walk, the shrine growing closer. Mitsuko wasn't sure whose grave they would be visiting; she knew where her grandparents were buried, although they rarely visited, and it was over an hour from their house. But she decided not to ask questions, instead following her father down the small hill, past the shrine, and into the field of grave markers, stones, and signs of various sizes. Ayumu led her to the back row without a word, stopping in front of a small stone marker. The stone was blank, without a name carved into it, and seemed dwarfed by the other markers to its sides. As the teen watched, he bent to kneel at the grave, pressing his hands softly together. She followed, dropping to her knees beside him, bowing her head and placing her hands together in prayer. After a long silence that spanned several minutes, her father finally spoke, giving a soft grunt as he rose to his feet. "His name was Mizushiro Hizumi," he said. "He died twenty years ago."

Mitsuko lifted her head, her hands falling into her lap. "Was her a friend of yours, papa?" she asked, gently. "I've never heard you mention him before."

"Ah." He looked away. "You could say that he forced me into a friendship with him."

"That's a funny thing to say." She laughed, rising from the ground to her feet. "You must have liked him at least a little bit, if you're visiting him like this."

"I suppose so." He let out a sigh, turning his gaze up to the sky, where the blue was beginning to recede into soft tones of orange and yellow, the sun dipping lower and lower with each passing moment. "Hizumi was kind at heart," he said, "and he understood me better than anyone else I knew. But he was also something of a brute."

"Was he your classmate?"

"For a while, yes." Ayumu dropped his head, looking down at his daughter. "He was hospitalized. He died when he was eighteen."

She bit down on her bottom lip. "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't unexpected. He had the same condition I did." He smiled just slightly. "His only wish was for me to live. He asked me to "go confidently in the direction of my dreams." In some ways, his passing allowed that to happen. The research that was performed after his death gave me a chance at life." He reached out and gently patted Mitsuko on the shoulder. "And that is why you're here."

"I see..." She smiled, and, turning back to the small grave, clasped her hands together and gave a deep bow. "Thank you very much, Mizushiro-san," she said, earnestly. "I am eternally in debt to you." As she rose, she gave her father a curious look, tilting her head to one side. "Why didn't you tell me any of this before, papa? You never said anything about this kind of thing..."

He didn't answer at first, but then reached into the back pocket of his pants, removing his wallet. As she watched, he reached into one of the small flaps and removed a folded piece of paper. He passed it into her hands, and she unfolded it, her eyes widening slightly. The paper was actually a photograph - a worn and somewhat faded picture of her father at a much younger age, looking away from the camera as if he was annoyed... and another teenage boy with bright green hair and warm golden eyes, one arm slung around Ayumu's shoulders, grinning into the camera. They were both wearing Tsukiomi uniforms, Mitsuko noticed. "This is Mizushiro-san?" she asked, peering down at the small image. "He looked friendly..."

"He didn't want me to remember him, after he was gone." Ayumu sighed. "He did some regrettable things, during his lifetime. But he meant well, and he thought that by allowing his body to be studied after his death, it would be the only way that I could forgive him." He reached for the photograph, and Mitsuko deposited it obediently into his hands. "It's complicated," he remarked. "But now that you're close to becoming an adult, you are capable of hearing these things."

"It _sounds_ complicated." She looked up at him, smiling. "But the most important thing is that you're here. So even if Mizushiro-san wasn't a good person, I can see that he was kind. So I'll have to be grateful to him for that."

"You sound like your mother right now."

"... really?"

Ayumu shook his head, chuckling, sliding the photograph back into his wallet, then tucking it away in his pocket again. "You're more like her than you think. I can see how hard you try to stay positive, even when everyone else has given up. She's the same way." His gaze softened. "She's always been like that."

Mitsuko made a soft humming noise, watching him. "You really love her, don't you, papa?" she asked after a moment.

"She was an acquired taste." He looked down at her and laughed at the immediate dirty look she gave him, crossing his arms. "I owe her my life just as much as I owe it to Hizumi," he remarked. "But... for different reasons."

"Hmm." She stared down at the small monument again, thinking, then bowed to it once more before straightening and turning on her heel. "You'll tell me the whole story someday, right?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder. "About you, and okaasan, and Mizushiro-san..."

"Someday."

"Someday _soon_, though, right?"

He followed her, chuckling. "Someday," he said again, and Mitsuko simply had to accept that answer as the best she would get. They started away from the shrine side-by-side, a father and his daughter, walking with the same stride and same steady pace, and the brunette could only hope that "someday" was soon, because she was tired of so many of her questions going unanswered.


	5. real and imagined

"Ne, obasan. What do you remember about the Munemiya Kana case?"

Judging by the shocked look Madoka gave her niece, this was not a question she had been expecting. It was late on Sunday morning, and as the navy-haired woman had been sitting alone at the dining table sipping from a cup of coffee, Mitsuko had slipped into a chair across from her and asked her question as casually as possible. The brunette fought to remain looking curious - but not overly interested - as she faced Madoka, whose expression gradually shifted from surprise to a frown. "Where did you hear about that?" she asked the brunette, her voice low.

"From Mai-chan." Mitsuko watched her aunt slowly lower her mug to the surface of the table, taking note of her actions. It was clear that Madoka was alarmed, though not angry - and hopefully still willing to talk. "And she heard it from some of the girls in her class," she lied easily, having created a cover story for her questions the evening before, during a period of intense thought. "They were saying that a girl was pushed from the roof, and that her boyfriend killed the person who pushed her. I guess some of the first-year students think the school is haunted, and they're blaming it on that story." She propped her chin up in one hand. "... at least, that's what Mai-chan told me."

Madoka's gaze was level. "And you're asking me about this because ... ?"

"I saw something about it online. It said you were the lead investigator on the case." Mitsuko held eye contact with her aunt, not wanting to look away or make any other movements that might hint at the half-truths she was telling. "You know I don't believe in any of that ghost stuff, but I was curious about there being a murder or two at my school. I never heard anything about it until this year. So I thought you might remember some of the details."

"I remember it..." Madoka sighed, picking up her mug again and taking a long drink of coffee. As the cup was lowered she began to answer - although her tone made it clear that she was reluctant to do so. "I don't know what kind of information you're finding online," she started, "but it is true that I was the investigator on this case."

Mitsuko nodded. "So Munemiya Kana really was murdered at Tsukomi?"

"Yes..." The navy-haired woman narrowed her eyes. "Although she fell from the emergency stairwell, not the roof. And great care was taken to make it look like an accident."

The brunette swallowed back a lump that had formed in her throat, hoping her nervousness didn't creep into her voice upon asking the next question. "What was the motive for her murder?"

"You're too much like your father sometimes, Mitsuko." Madoka easily avoided the answer to that question, rising from her chair and moving to the half-full coffee pot that sat on one of the kitchen counters. The brunette gritted her teeth, but resolved to stay and listen for another minute, just in case her aunt said something else worth hearing. A minute later, over the sound of a cup being refilled, this decision paid off as Madoka spoke again: "Do you know that he got himself involved in that case?"

"Papa did?" Mitsuko's eyes widened. "How?"

"Hmm. I guess Wataya was careful to keep that from being reported." Her aunt sounded amused. "He came out on the stairwell shortly after Munemiya fell. It was just a coincidence, but the real murderer - another student - took advantage of his presence and accused him of the crime. He eventually figured out what had actually happened, but..."

Wataya. Mitsuko made a mental note of that name before turning to look over her shoulder at Madoka, her eyebrows lifted. "Didn't _you_ figure it out, obasan?"

"... hrmph." Madoka tossed her hair over one shoulder, looking sharply away. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"But - "

"Shouldn't you be doing your homework, Mitsuko-chan?" She came back to the table and placed her cup on the surface, reaching over to gently pat her niece's arm. "The sooner you get it done, the more you can enjoy your Sunday afternoon, right? And your parents are going to need help working on the nursery later, so you should be free to do that."

Mitsuko knew the subject of Munemiya Kana's death wasn't going to be approached again anytime soon. "Alright," she conceded, sighing, and rose from the table. "Thanks, obasan."

"You're welcome." Madoka settled back down into her chair, flipping open a magazine. "Now go get your homework done before it gets too late."

The brunette eyed her aunt for a moment, silent, and then turned from the table. "Okay," she said, simply, and retreated to her room without another word. She wanted to stay behind, and press on further... but in reality, things were going exactly as she'd planned.

* * *

><p>An hour later, Mitsuko tiptoed out of her bedroom, down the hallway, and back into the dining area. She walked silently to the now-empty table, her movements going unnoticed by the rest of the family crowded into the spare bedroom, all debating on the best way to convert the room into the nursery for the third Narumi child. She bent to examine the underside of the table, and after a moment, reached beneath to remove a piece of sticky foam attached to a small digital sound recorder. She clicked the red stop button on the recorder before silently slipping it into the pocket of her jeans, then snuck back to her room without making a sound.<p>

"Well," the brunette said aloud as she slid her door closed and moved to her computer desk, "let's see what obasan had to say after I left."

It took a few minutes for Mitsuko to prepare herself for a listen of the audio she'd recorded. She first attached the recorder to her computer via a small USB cable, transferring a copy of the audio file to her desktop. Then she retrieved a pair of earbuds from one of her desk drawers, plugging them into the front audio jack on the tower (and checking to ensure that her external speakers were definitely not going to emit any sound, just in case someone happened to walk into her room while she was listening). She wiped the data on the recorder - she could never be too safe - before tucking it away in a different drawer, along with its cable. Finally she was ready, and opened the file in an audio player and editor that would allow her to see exactly where she had recorded data. Just as she'd hoped, there were two short periods of audio: one at the time she'd been talking to her aunt, and the other, about ten minutes later...

"Fingers crossed," she muttered, and placed her cursor at the start of the second period, plugging each side of her headphones into her ears. It was time to find out if her plan had worked.

The recording started with the faint, distant sound of her father's voice - probably in the hallway. It sounded as if he was talking to her mother, probably telling her to sit down. Closer to the recorder came the sound of Madoka clearing her throat, and after a minute of silence, she spoke, her voice low and serious. "Ayumu. Come here."

"Hmm?" There was the sound of a faint thump accompanying her father's voice - his cane, she guessed, hitting the kitchen floor. "What is it?"

"Mitsuko asked me about the Munemiya case."

"What is that?"

Madoka sighed heavily, evidently annoyed, and the brunette stifled a giggle at her exaggerated irritation."You mean to say you've forgotten? When that girl fell from the stairwell at Tsukiomi..."

There was a long silence now, and Mitsuko was in the process of leaning forward to check the volume of her recorder when she heard, faintly, a tapping sound - definitely his cane, this time - followed by a noise of acknowledgement. "Munemiya, Nohara, and... Tsuji, wasn't it? Those three?"

"Yes. Those three."

"Why was she asking about that?"

"Her friend - Asazuki's daughter - said something about the school being haunted. They found some information online." Madoka spoke a little louder... or had been leaning closer to the location of the hidden recorder at the time, perhaps. "That isn't like her. Doesn't it seem suspicious?"

"If your name was attached to the information she found, she may have just been curious. And Mai seems like the type to be interested in the occult." Ayumu chuckled, and Mitsuko smiled to herself at this sound, thinking that her father was not far off on this observation. "Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions, neesan," he continued, rather good-naturedly. "We've checked into it before. There's a limit to the kind of information that is available online."

"But the pieces aren't impossible to put together." At this the brunette drew in a sharp breath, her heart beating faster, anticipating the next words her aunt spoke. Just as she'd hoped, this conversation had the potential to reveal something. Her bait may have worked exactly as planned. "Don't you think that she might find it suspicious, if she keeps looking? All of the things that happened at Tsukiomi weren't normal, and if she discovers the extent of your involvement..."

"Don't worry. She takes after her mother with her research. She'll only look into something if she knows it will be useful to her." Her father grunted, and she heard the sound of a cane tapping against the floor a few times, coming closer to the recorder, before a chair was pulled out and he dropped into it. Mitsuko held her breath, suddenly worried by how close his voice was to the hidden device. "She might be curious about your involvement in the cases around that time, but I can't see that she would find anything related to _that_ subject." He paused, and she hurried to push her earbuds further into her ears, her lips parting. _**That** subject -_ "That's what you're worried about, right?" he continued.

Madoka sighed again. "It was your decision to raise these kids without telling them anything about it. Don't you think they'll find out eventually? There's still the risk of something happening, and they'll at least have to be informed. And what if someone tries to bring up the past without your knowledge?"

"You really think the curse is something to worry about?"

Mitsuko's eyes went wide. _Curse?_

"Ayumu... I know you want to believe that it's not a possibility, but - "

"You're too pessimistic, neesan." He chuckled. "And there's no reason to put any fear into their minds. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy, that curse. If we give someone reason to be fearful, they will become fearful. This subject should only be brought up if we have a good reason to do so."

The brunette could hear the frown in her aunt's voice. "But if it's too late..."

"Heh." There was a pause, and Mitsuko was left to wonder what she missed - what action he had taken, if he had smiled or even reached out to pat her hand. "Have faith," he said finally, gently. "If Mitsuko found something out of the ordinary, she would come to me with it. She isn't the type to hide things from us. But..." His voice dropped, and for a moment, she wondered if he was sad. "... unfortunately, we've made the choice to hide something from her."

"It's for the best, though, isn't it?" Hiyono's voice suddenly broke into the conversation, and the brunette guessed that the previous pause had been due to her mother (somehow silently, even at seven months pregnant) entering the room. "So many people experienced pain during those times. There isn't any reason that we should bring up those unhappy memories while we are all making new ones." Her mother's voice lifted, becoming more cheerful. "So let's not talk anymore about these things this weekend, okay?"

Madoka sounded reluctant. "Fine..."

There was the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, followed by the tap of a cane - her father rising from his chair - and then the faint murmur of Hiyono's voice as she voiced her concern. Her parents began to bicker, quietly - Mitsuko couldn't help but smile - and the sound of their dialogue faded as they moved away from the location of the recorder, probably back to the spare bedroom where they'd all been before. Shortly after that, there was another long sigh in the kitchen. "I hope, for everyone's sake, that those things stay buried," Madoka said, quietly, and then came the sound of her own chair being pushed away from the table. Mitsuko heard her footsteps move past the location of the recorder, down the hallway... and then, nothing.

The brunette stared at her monitor, slowly moving her mouse to stop the playback of the recording, her lips parted. After a moment she reached up to pull the earbuds out, and as they landed on her desk with two quiet clicks, she drew in what felt like her first breath in minutes. On one hand, she felt disappointed, because neither her father nor her aunt had said anything about the Blade Children. But on the other hand...

_You really think the curse is something to worry about?_

Hearing her father utter the word "curse" - her practical, science-minded father - was unsettling. He'd gone on to say something about it being a self-fulfilling prophecy, but still, she couldn't possibly understand why her father would be referencing some sort of curse. And it hadn't been in past tense, either. Madoka had said something about it happening again, about the need for "the kids" to know... Was this something that she, Mai, and Lacuna needed to know about?

_There's still the risk of something happening, and they'll at least have to be informed. And what if someone tries to bring up the past without your knowledge?_

Mitsuko closed her eyes, frowning. Something wasn't right. And she felt certain now, suddenly, that someone was bringing up the past without the knowledge of her family. But what was it that she was trying to be told? And why? And how did what she was learning about - the murders, the identity of Lacuna's mother, the idea of some sort of curse - even relate to the first postcard she'd received? How did the Blade Children, whatever they were, even tie into all of this?

Her eyes opened again, slowly, and she placed her hand on her mouse again. She closed the audio program and quickly changed the settings on the audio file to be hidden, just in case she needed it again. After the icon disappeared from view, she opened her email client and quickly typed out a message to Lacuna and Mai:

_Our parents are hiding something from us. I heard my aunt talking with my father. It sounds like they made a decision to not tell us about something - maybe several things - that happened in the past. And whatever happened was around the time of the murders at Tsukiomi. We need to dig deeper._

_They said something about a curse. **What** curse?_

She sent the email and then leaned back in her seat, eyebrows still drawn together, thinking about their predicament from the very beginning. Someone - and she had no idea who - had sent her two postcards, asking her first what the Blade Children were, then stating that "it" had started when "she" fell from the roof. She'd gathered that "she" was Munemiya Kana, and that her death and the two subsequent deaths of her classmates - and maybe the unsolved murder of Sonobe-sensei - were related. But were they related to the Blade Children? Then she had overheard two telling conversations, including one in which the identity of Lacuna's mother had been discussed. There had been a reference to her being one of the "remaining children"... possibly one of the Blade Children? But she still didn't know what the Blade Children were, or if they even existed. And if they did, how could they relate to what they had found?

A soft ding sounded from her computer, and she looked up, surprised to find an email in her inbox already. Lacuna had written her back immediately:

_Be careful. They may have been trying to protect us. If it was something we needed to know, wouldn't we already know? What if the person who sent those postcards is trying to stir up trouble?_

He was right, of course - and she had considered that the person leaving her the anonymous messages was simply trying to start trouble. But at the same time, she had a strong feeling that this mystery had to be solved, that it was crucial for her to learn the truth. Why had the postcards been left for her instead of Mai or Lacuna? Did the person leaving them know her personally, know that she was the most likely to research them until she'd totally exhausted every possible source of information?

Another ding sounded, and this time the message was from Mai. Mitsuko noted that her friend had left Lacuna off of this email:

_I asked my mom about the murders and she got really freaked out. My dad told me he didn't want to talk about it. They are keeping something from us._

_Whatever you need me to do, I'm in._

Mitsuko sat in front of her computer for a long time, reading both responses over and over again, and eventually she rose from her computer and left the room without writing either of them a response.

* * *

><p>That evening, long after she should have been in bed, Mitsuko sat alone at the dining room table in her pajamas, staring at a notebook. She'd taken up her position at the table an hour before, after the rest of her family had gone to sleep, sneaking out into the room and turning on a single light in the kitchen - just enough to allow her to see what she was doing. In the notebook, she'd written down everything as simply as possible, from start to finish, in attempt to clear her mind and re-focus her thoughts:<p>

_Two postcards with Tokyo Tower on them._  
><em>What are the Blade Children?<em>  
><em>"It" started when Munemiya Kana was murdered.<em>  
><em>Sonobe's murder went unsolved. Why was he killed? Who finished the job?<em>  
><em>"That" subject. Something is "cursed."<em>  
><em>Who is Wataya?<em>  
><em>Something bad happened at Tsukiomi. Narumi Ayumu was involved. There is something that is being hidden from us.<em>  
><em>What should we know about the identity of Lacuna's mother? How could this not be known?<em>  
><em>What is the Mikanagi File? What happened to Amanae Yukine?<em>

The brunette slowly tapped the end of her pen against the page, biting down on her bottom lip, surveying the statements in front of her. For starters, she could put aside the question of the Blade Children, because there was nothing online that could lead her to that information - as she'd already found - and she hadn't yet confirmed that the term even meant anything. And the significance of Tokyo Tower was questionable, if there even was one. She also felt that there was not much else to be learned about the death of Munemiya Kana; although she hadn't done any further research beyond her findings the day before, she had a gut feeling that Kana was an unfortunate bystander, and that the people of real importance were Nohara Mizue and Sonobe Takeshi.

"So," she murmured aloud, and carefully crossed out the first three lines on the page in front of her, "that leaves Sonobe... the curse... and Wataya."

Sonobe Takeshi did require further investigation, and she made a mental note to look into him the next day. She certainly wasn't going to solve a twenty-year-old murder case, but perhaps she could find something... anything... to tie what had happened to him into the rest of the data she had collected. Someone had killed him, but it hadn't been Nohara. Then there was the curse, and "that" subject. She felt that she wouldn't get any further with this, so she skipped the line. And then... Wataya. Madoka had referenced this person earlier - saying that he (or she?) was careful to keep her father's involvement with the Munemiya case from being reported. There was some significance to this, too, and Mitsuko lowered her pen to add a star in the margin beside this line. Unlike Sonobe, this name was new to her.

And then she came to the rest. Something - or multiple things - had happened at Tsukiomi that had caused many people pain. And as she'd heard her parents admit earlier in the day, something was being hidden from her, Mai, and Lacuna. And there was something unusual about Lacuna's mother... and the Mikanagi File...

She frowned. Within the period of three days, what had started as a simple mystery had become a complicated, convoluted situation that raised many more questions than she had found herself able to answer. She wondered if this had been the intention of the person sending the postcards to her, which she'd once again stored safely beneath her keyboard. And this, of course, was another question in and of itself: who was sending her this information? And why were they doing this now? She felt certain that she'd been meant to discover the Munemiya Kana case, as a result of the second card, but the first one...

She still didn't know what the Blade Children were. It all came back to that.

Mitsuko released a soft sigh, bending her head low over the notebook. She was tired - it was nearly midnight - but she had a hunch that sleep was going to be difficult tonight. Writing out the contents of her mind had done little to clear her head. She was plagued by the need to continue her research, to pour through the contents of the internet until she found something, anything, to tie together these many details. At this point, it all threatened to overwhelm her. She needed help...

She thought back to Mai's email from earlier in the day, which still sat in her inbox, lacking a reply. Could she ask the younger girl for assistance? Mai was more brawn than brains at times, but she was still undeniably smart, and had a knack for finding things out about the occult or unusual. Lacuna, meanwhile, had seemed reluctant, almost protective, but he could still possibly be helpful. His father's wealth gave him access to things that most people wouldn't have, and that could, potentially, come in handy for them. If they could somehow work together, without taking sides...

The soft sound of a door sliding open in the hallway caused Mitsuko to sit upright, quickly closing her notebook and sliding the pen into its spiral binding. She peered out into the dim hallway, and after a moment, was able to make out her mother's figure advancing slowly in her direction. Hiyono saw her daughter right away, and seemed to hurry into the dining area, clasping her hands together over her stomach. "Mitsuko?" she called, softly. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine. I was taking some notes for the newspaper." The brunette lied easily - so easily that she felt a little guilty - as she stood, tucking her notebook under one arm. "Are you okay, okaasan?" she asked her mother, raising one eyebrow. "Not able to sleep?"

Hiyono smiled, gently patting her midsection. "The little one is restless. I thought I might sit up for a little while until she lets me get some sleep again."

"Ah..." Mitsuko watched her mother move to the kitchen, reaching into a cabinet to pull out a glass. She wondered to herself if it was worth trying to ask her mother anything... but it really wasn't a good time to be asking questions about mysteries. Still, at the very least... "Okaasan," she began, placing her notebook down on the table, "can I ask you something? About my aunt?"

"Hm?" Hiyono looked up, surprised, tilting her head to one side. "About Madoka-san?"

"Yeah." The brunette moved to take a seat at the bar, watching her mother fill a glass of water from the faucet at the kitchen sink. "She said something earlier about papa getting involved with one or two of her investigations. She didn't really seem happy about it..."

Mitsuko wasn't done with her question, but her mother's sudden laughter was a hint that she was about to get an answer. The blonde took a drink of water before she spoke, her brown eyes sparkling as she took a few steps in her daughter's direction. "Unhappy would be an understatement," Hiyono began, placing her cup on the bar. "Madoka-oneesan was downright furious with him most of the time. And me, too, I suppose..."

"... what?"

"Hmmm, well, that was a really long time ago..." Hiyono smiled at her daughter, folding her hands together. "But I managed to get myself involved, too. So she was often yelling at the both of us to keep our noses out of her business, or to stop investigating cases that we found interesting..."

"I didn't realize that." Mitsuko leaned forward, interested. "So you were there when papa was accused of murdering the Munemiya girl?"

"Of course you've found out about that..." The blonde giggled again. "Actually, that was why I met the stubborn, reclusive "Narumi-san" in the first place. After he was done being questioned, I tried to take his statement for the school newspaper. He didn't really tell me anything interesting, so I started following him around... And, of course, things just got more complicated after that." Hiyono looked down at her daughter, perhaps a little more serious now, although Mitsuko always found it hard to tell when her mother's mood shifted - she was always smiling, after all. "There are a lot of things you don't know about yet," she continued, tracing the rim of her glass with one finger. "Your father never wanted to give you the impression that he was a troublemaker, so most of our really interesting stories have been put away for now..."

The brunette raised her eyebrows. "For now?"

"Someday, when you're just a little older, I'm sure Ayumu will want to tell you everything that happened." Hiyono moved her eyes in the direction of the hallway, to the closed door of the bedroom she shared with her husband, and her gaze softened in a way that made it clear that she was happy - and very much in love with the man who lay asleep in that room. "But when you were born, he swore that he would never make you go through the same kind of pain that he experienced. For a long time, you and I were the most important things in his life, and he fought very hard to survive his illness so he could protect us, and provide for us..." She sighed softly. "He's a very good person, Mitsuko. And he thinks so highly of you, and Kyou, that he's scared of what you might think of him if you found out..."

"Found out ... what?"

"He was a very different person when he was your age. And so was I. But that's normal, isn't it?" Hiyono smiled again, reaching out to pat her daughter's arm. "That's all. It's very late... you should be going to sleep, ne?"

Mitsuko hesitated, unsure as to how to respond - and unsure as to whether or not she'd just been answered truthfully, or if her mother had been covering up her absentminded thoughts with a lie. She'd never heard her mother lie, but after hearing her voice on the recording earlier, expressing a desire for everyone to avoid bringing up unhappy memories...

"Mitsuko?" The blonde blinked, peering into her daughter's face. "What is it? You looked very serious all of a sudden."

"Sorry... it's nothing." She rose from her seat. "I'm just tired. I should try to sleep."

"That's a good idea." Hiyono reached out to gently squeeze Mitsuko's hand. "Maybe tomorrow afternoon, once you get home from school, you can ask your father a little bit about your aunt... I'm not sure how much he will want to say about her, but there are definitely some entertaining stories to be told." As the brunette turned away to pick up her notebook, her mother continued speaking, her voice softening somewhat. "We caused a lot of trouble for Madoka-oneesan and Wataya-san, that's for sure..."

"What - " Mitsuko looked over her shoulder, her eyes open wide. "Who is - was - Wataya?"

"Oh, he was Madoka-oneesan's partner for a long time. He retired not all that long ago." The blonde didn't seem to notice her daughter's shock, instead looking down at her abdomen as she patted its surface, as if she was trying to comfort the restless infant within. "He wasn't very fond of your father... I imagine he'd have some silly things to say about us now, though." She laughed quietly. "Anyway, Mitsuko... please go to bed before it gets too late. You don't want to be tired during class tomorrow. Then you might resort to taking naps on the roof..."

That was one reference Mitsuko understood, but the quick beating of her heart was too distracting to allow her to smile or crack a joke in response. Wataya had been Madoka's partner - of _course_. That made perfect sense. How had she not thought of it before? But she would have to look into it tomorrow. She tucked her notebook tightly under one arm before moving back to briefly embrace her mother. "I'll go," she said, hoping her face was calm as she pulled away, because her mind was anything but. "Don't stay up too late, okaasan..."

"I'll try not to. She's settling down again." Hiyono nodded at her stomach before reaching up to gently pat her daughter's shoulder. "Get some rest, ne?"

Mitsuko felt reluctant, but then she suddenly yawned, and realized that rest was probably a good idea. "Okay," she said, turning away. "Good night."

The teen slowly retreated to her room, leaving her mother behind in the kitchen, and after tossing her notebook aside fell heavily into her bed. Although she expected to lie awake for a long time, thinking about the mystery she had begun to uncover over the last three days, or planning out how she would look into Madoka's former partner, on the off chance that he would have answers for her, she fell asleep quickly. She slept soundly, without dreaming, until her alarm buzzed noisily in her ear the next morning, starting the week that would change her life forever.


	6. spiral and escape

Mitsuko's second full week of the new semester at Tsukiomi started normally enough. There were no further incidents between her classmates and Lacuna, her classes were just challenging enough to keep her from becoming bored, and she continued to find her homework relatively easy (save her English studies, of course, which continued to bother her). Although the mystery of the postcards was still fresh in her mind, she had chosen to take a different approach with her research this time - one that had involved reaching out to others for help. She knew her resources were good, and she had a plan for finding and approaching Wataya. But it would have to wait, because for the time being, her classes were top priority.

Club time on Wednesday afternoon found her and Lacuna seated outside on a patch of grass not that far from Tsukiomi's running track. As they continued to work on the first issue of the school newspaper, Lacuna had made the suggestion that they publish profiles of other clubs, beginning with the track and field club run by Asazuki Ryouko. Mai's mother, although not necessarily easy to approach, had agreed to be interviewed for the newspaper, admitting that the profile might help stir up some interest in the future track activities of the school. Mitsuko had set up a time to speak with her on Wednesday, during downtime in the club's activities... and Lacuna, of course, had tagged along. The two teens sat watching the girls run around the track that lay before them, waiting for a free moment to talk to Ryouko. "Do you think the issue will be done once we finish this?" Lacuna asked, by way of finishing a conversation they'd been having about the newspaper's progress. "It seems like it's getting pretty full."

"I think so." The brunette stretched out her legs in the grass, crossing them at the ankle. The weather was becoming warmer by the day, and it felt nice to sit outside without a coat on, lounging in the grass without fear of getting cold. It was a little windy, of course, but she could deal with that. "Once we have this added, I'll submit it to Inoue-sensei for his review, and then after he makes his edits we should be able to have it printed."

"How many copies will get printed?"

"Not many. Unfortunately, journalism is a dying art form around here, and the school newspaper is a victim of its slow demise." She chuckled. "But Inoue-sensei was the one who sponsored me when I asked to have the club brought back again, so I know he's at least interested in what I - er, what _we_ are doing." She tilted her head back and looked up at the blue sky, dotted by traces of clouds. "We'll print about a hundred copies, more if they're requested... but they usually get thrown away without being read."

"We'll have to change that, won't we?"

"Good luck."

"You should be a little more optimistic, Mitzi. You're a great writer, you know?" She glanced to her side and saw him smiling at her, genuinely. "Anyway," he continued, "I'm eager to see what happens. It was a lot of fun, writing things about the way the school works, and all the student news..." He paused, as if he was thinking about something. "By the way," he began, his voice dropping in volume - even though there was no one around them - "did you ever think about putting something in the newspaper about the postcards? Maybe someone would come forward with some information."

She waved her hand at him. "That's not my style. I'm pretty sure I can dig up the info I need eventually. Besides, I just got done telling you that no one reads the newspaper."

"Dig up?" He blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Usually I can find what I need through less obvious methods. Right now I'm looking into something involving my aunt's former partner." She leaned forward, folding her arms together and resting them on the top of the notebook in her lap. "But I had to go through some of my contacts to do it. So it'll take a few days to get any results."

"Some of your contacts?" His blue eyes were wide. "What, like... some sort of crazy hacker network?"

"Something like that." She laughed. "I could tell you more about it, but then I'd probably have to kill you..."

"Don't bother. All that computer stuff goes right over my head anyway. It'd be a senseless death." He grinned, turning his head away to watch the girls jogging slowly around the track in the distance. They had started a mile run as the two teens had been chatting, and were now on the last lap. Mitsuko noticed that Mai had easily pulled ahead to the front of the group, and the younger girl didn't appear winded at all - in fact, despite the distance, the brunette was pretty sure she could make out a look of annoyance on her face. "Just be careful, Mitzi," Lacuna continued after a moment. "There's got to be a reason that all of this is happening, but I can't shake the idea that someone is trying to hurt you..."

"I know." She nodded. "Trust me... I've considered that... But - "

"But you can't stop pursuing the truth." His sudden interruption surprised her, and her head snapped back in his direction in time to see him grin again, one of his hands lifting to rake through his messy hair. "So, I was thinking that it might not be a bad idea for you to have a bodyguard."

"... you have _got_ to be kidding me."

"Come on! I'm serious. Watch this." He quickly shed the unbuttoned jacket of his uniform, revealing the black T-shirt he'd been wearing underneath. "I can kick anybody's ass," he said, flexing both of his arms. "Playing the guitar gives you serious muscles, you know? And I've been lifting weights - " Mitsuko's sudden outburst of laughter silenced him for a moment, but he continued with enthusiasm despite her obvious amusement. "If you keep me around, I'll make sure nobody touches you. And you don't even have to pay me!"

"You're nuts." The brunette continued to laugh, picking up his uniform jacket and tossing it in his face. "If anybody threatened us, you'd probably hide behind me and cry until they left."

He tossed the coat aside, pouting. "No way!"

"Yes way." She shook her head, her laughter fading to a giggle. "That is, by far, the most ridiculous thing you have ever said." She paused, looking out at the girls on the track as they completed their lap and slowed to a stop, Ryouko blowing her whistle at them a few times and gathering them all together for a talk. "But," she continued, "I know you only said it because you care. So..." She felt a little uncomfortable, but forced herself to utter the word waiting behind her lips anyway: "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He was all smiles again in an instant, tilting his head down toward her. "Even if you think I'd be a lousy bodyguard, I'm still willing to do whatever you ask. So if you need a favor, just let me know."

"Whatever I ask?" She shot him a questioning look. "As if cleaning the club room every day isn't enough?"

"Now that you mention it, I think I want to revise our agreement on cleaning duties..."

"It's too late for that. You're stuck with those responsibilities forever." Ryouko was now heading their way, and Mitsuko rose to her feet, flipping open her notebook. Lacuna followed, quickly, although the brunette saw that he had begun pouting again. She elbowed him in the side without looking and felt some smug satisfaction at the little yelp he let out. "Now I just have to decide what _else_ I want to do with you," she joked.

"Mouuu, Mitzi..."

"Come on," she said, and motioned for him to follow as she crossed the field to meet Ryouko. "And quit pouting. You look like a child."

Asazuki Ryouko, Mai's mother and the girls gym teacher, was tough, sensible, and surprisingly pretty; anyone who didn't know her well tended to be frightened of her, but Mitsuko had grown up considering Ryouko to be something like her aunt, and admired her nearly as much as her own mother and father. She was a tall woman with a shapely, athletic figure and chestnut-colored hair that was normally cut short to frame her face. Although Mai looked more like her father at present, with dyed hair, green eyes, and glasses, her natural hair color was very similar to Ryouko's - something the teenager seemed to detest. As the two teens met the older woman in the grass, Ryouko reached out to give Lacuna a good-natured punch in the arm, grinning up at him (because Lacuna was taller than everyone - even Asazuki Kousuke, Mai's father, who towered over everyone Mitsuko knew). "It's been a while," she remarked. "Are you keeping out of trouble?"

"Mitzi's keeping me in line." He smiled, ignoring the annoyed look the brunette immediately shot him. "I'm sorry for causing you problems on my first day back... I didn't have enough time to let Mai know that I'd be coming to Tsukiomi, so I guess she was really surprised."

"It's fine." Ryouko folded her arms, turning her attention to Mitsuko now. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Eh?" She blinked a few times, surprised. "Sure... what is it, Ryouko-san?"

"Whatever you're doing to keep this one under control - " Ryouko pointed to Lacuna. " - do the same thing with my daughter. Kousuke and I can't seem to talk any sense into her lately. All she wants to do is stomp around the house complaining about one thing or another." She rolled her ruby eyes, nodding over her shoulder at Mai, now running a relay with the other girls in the club, taking directions from a senior member shouting loudly at them. "She's always been a good girl, but it's like someone pressed a button that turned her into a brat overnight. If it wasn't considered child abuse, I'd probably try to beat some sense into her. It worked with my husband, after all..."

Mitsuko and Lacuna both laughed, knowing the woman's words weren't serious (although Kousuke _did_ seem to take a few punches from his wife every now and then). The brunette gave Ryouko a knowing smile, wrapping her arms around her notebook. "I'll do what I can," she said. "Mai-chan's just going through a rough time, I guess. She told me she was having a hard time making friends in her class..."

"It's too bad we couldn't have her bumped up a year. She'd be much happier with the two of you." Ryouko sighed, shaking her head. "But that's just the way it goes. Not everyone can be a genius like your father." She paused for a moment, perhaps remembering something, then turned her attention back to the two teens in front of her. "So. What do you want to know about Tsukiomi's famous track and field club?"

* * *

><p>"You know you don't have to walk me home, right?"<p>

"Of course I know that." Lacuna grinned. "But I'm your bodyguard, remember?"

"_Stop_ it." Mitsuko sent a glare in the direction of the white-haired teen walking beside her, who simply grinned wider, his blue eyes bright. The pair had conducted their interview of Asazuki Ryouko, then had waited around until practice ended to talk to a few of the track and field club members as well. Mitsuko had taken down a good amount of notes, and had even fit in a few minutes to chat with Mai - who was, by her admission, making less trouble in her class than before. She had also befriended a few of the more open-minded first-year girls in the club who cheerfully called her "Maimai," a nickname she'd surprisingly taken a liking to. Though the more senior club members had been serious and dedicated, and seemed to express a distaste of how easily the first year student outran them, Mitsuko did hear one girl begrudgingly admit that it made sense for Asazuki-sensei's numerous speed records - created when she was still known as Takamachi Ryouko - to be broken by her daughter. After finishing their interviews and taking notes, the pair had thanked Mai's mother again before going back to the Newspaper Club room to deposit their notes and perform a quick cleaning. To Mitsuko's surprise, they had left the school on time, maybe even a little bit early - and out of the blue, Lacuna had declared that he was going to walk his friend home. She realized that it was only a short distance between their houses, but...

"You're ridiculous, Lacuna." She snorted, crossing her arms as she continued to glare up at him. "I don't need a bodyguard. And people are going to start talking, if they see us together like this all the time. I hope you aren't going to give anyone the wrong idea."

He laughed, tugging on the jacket of his uniform, which he'd kept off and now held slung over one shoulder, on top of his backpack. "You act like you're ashamed of my company, Mitzi. Isn't it nice to have your childhood friend back again?"

"Sure." She rolled her eyes. "Except no one else realizes that we're friends. The last thing I want is a rumor going around about how we're ... involved."

"Relax." He smiled down at her, happily, and the brunette had to fight back an urge to slug him in the jaw. "People are too scared of you to gossip about something like that. I'm sure you could just reveal some personal information if anyone decided to make trouble, right?"

"... yeah. Sure." She made a face. "I just don't want people thinking that something is going on. That includes my parents; my mom's already starting to drop hints about us going on dates." She paused for a moment to roll her eyes. "This wouldn't be a problem if you would just go and get a girlfriend. It's not like you don't have your pick of the school. There are girls from other classes falling all over you every time we're outside, and some of the girls on the track team definitely seemed interested... You were pretty happy to be talking with a couple of them, earlier, weren't you?"

"I think you're the one who is getting the wrong idea." He brushed off her comment easily, laughing. "To almost everyone in the school, I'm still an outsider with no reason to be in Japan. Some of the girls on the track team were fans of my father's music - that's all. It was refreshing to talk to people who aren't so negative, or aren't screaming my name in the hallways."

She lifted an eyebrow. "That's really all it was?"

"What else was I supposed to be doing?"

She snorted. "You're the trying to convince me that an almost eighteen-year-old has no interest whatsoever in girls standing around in running shorts? Any guy would have been drooling in that situation. Even Mai looked like she was in heaven."

She could hear the smile in his voice. "I'm not like other people, Mitzi. You know that."

"... what's that supposed to mean?"

"I really don't have much of an interest in finding a girlfriend." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shrug, his gaze turning up to the sky. "I realize I'm not that complex, but sometimes I feel like it would be difficult to find someone who understands me. And some of the girls in our school are pretty, but..." He laughed again, softly this time. "I guess I'm just stuck on someone."

"Eh?" She lifted her head and stared up at him, blinking a few times, surprised. "Really?"

"Mmhmm." His expression had relaxed somewhat, a slight smile appearing on his mouth. "It's probably useless, even though I've liked her for a really long time. I know she thinks I'm an idiot, too. But I'll never give up hoping that she changes her mind someday."

The brunette watched him for a moment, silently, thinking this over. Neither spoke for a while, continuing their walk at a slow but steady pace. It was Mitsuko who finally found her voice again, just as the pair rounded the corner that led them down the residential street on which the Narumi household sat. "You don't have to tell me anything," she said, softly, "and it's not my place to ask, but is it - Mai-chan?"

"What? _Mai?_ No!" The white-haired teen stared down at her, apparently dumbfounded. "Mai's way too much like my sister. I could never think of her that way. Plus, she's... you know..." He motioned vaguely with the hand that wasn't holding his jacket, smiling awkwardly. "... she's into girls, so..."

"You said it was useless..."

"That's not what I meant!"

"What was I supposed to think? You two were always close." Mitsuko huffed, folding her arms across her chest. "If it's not Mai-chan, then I don't want to know. I'm sure someday you'll leave Japan again and marry some actress or rock singer or something. A normal life just doesn't suit you."

"Doesn't it?" He tilted his head slightly. "Don't you think that's why I came back? I wanted to try living a normal life for once. And so far, it's been really nice."

"But it's not going to last, is it?" She frowned, looking down at her shoes. "Your parents are already off traveling again without you. Won't you just end up going with them again?"

"Nah." His voice was light, almost playful. "I can take care of myself. I'm pretty happy being here with you and Mai."

"Even though you're leaving behind that girl you're hung up on?"

"Hmm." He laughed. "Something tells me you really are jealous, Mitzi."

"I'm not jealous of anything." She huffed again, kicking the sidewalk with one loafer. "It just pisses me off, you waltzing back into my life like you never left. We were supposed to go to junior high and high school together, and you were supposed to teach me to play the bass guitar so we could form a band, and we were all going to go to a matsuri in the summer when we were old enough. We were supposed to stay together." She realized how angry she was beginning to sound, and swallowed back a lump that had formed in her throat. "Whether you stay or go doesn't matter to me," she said, softly, shaking her head. "But pick one or the other. If you run away again without telling me, I'll never forgive you."

Lacuna didn't respond, and the brunette couldn't help but feel guilty after a moment, hesitantly lifting her eyes from the ground. She opened her mouth to speak again, lifting her eyes to the white-haired teen, and saw that he wasn't even looking at her: he was staring at something in the distance, eyebrows drawn together, his eyes narrowed. She followed his gaze and drew in a sharp breath, stopping in her tracks. They were near enough to the Narumi household to see the sidewalk and front steps, and standing at the front door was a short, slender girl in a Tsukiomi uniform. Mitsuko didn't recognize her, but she could see that her hair was dark, probably black, and fell straight nearly to her waist. A purple backpack hung from one shoulder, and as Lacuna stopped walking beside the brunette, she could see that the girl was holding -

"No way," Lacuna whispered, as Mitsuko gasped. "Is that another envelope?"

"Don't move," she said, but it was too late: the white-haired teen broke into a run, sprinting in the direction of the house. Mitsuko groaned, slapping her palm into her forehead, but she followed, jogging after him with one hand holding down the back of her skirt so it didn't flutter too madly in the wind. At first the girl didn't appear to notice their approach, and as they drew closer, it appeared that she was staring down at the white envelope in her hands, perhaps inspecting it - but then the slap of sneakers against the sidewalk behind her drew her attention, and she whirled around with a sudden shriek. The two teens stopped at the path that led to the front door, and the girl stared at them with enormous gray eyes, her lips parted. For a moment, no one moved or spoke - but then Mitsuko swallowed, trying to ignore the pounding of her heart in her ears as she took a step in the direction of the door. "Hello," she said, tentatively. "I think you have something for me."

"I - " The girl's voice was high-pitched and not at all stable. "I - um - "

Lacuna suddenly came forward, in front of Mitsuko, walking halfway to the front door where the girl still stood, gripping the envelope between her hands. "Who are you?" he demanded. "And what are you doing here?"

The brunette's eyes widened. "Lakkun - "

"Answer me." He advanced forward again, raising one arm in front of her as he did so, as if to protect her. His voice was hard as he spoke, and she was surprised by how threatening he sounded. "Are you the one who's been leaving the messages for Mitsuko?"

"I..." The girl stared up at him, clutching the envelope between two hands, and suddenly her face scrunched up as if she was about to cry. "I'm sorry!" she said, her eyes starting to fill with tears. "I don't know what's in here - someone asked me to leave these notes for Narumi-sempai, and told me not to ask any questions - "

"Someone?" The white-haired teen took one more step forward. "Who?"

"I - I can't say!" The girl shook her head from side to side, rapidly, choking back a sob. "If I don't deliver the message, she's going to do something to hurt me - and - " Her words began to come out haltingly as tears rolled down her cheeks. "I knew it - it was something bad! I - I just knew it!"

"Lacuna..." Mitsuko placed her hands on her friend's arm, gently pushing it down; as he looked over her shoulder at her, surprised, she moved past him, making her way up the steps to the front porch. When she made it there, she smiled tentatively, reaching out to carefully touch the crying girl's hand. The girl flinched, but then relaxed, giving Mitsuko a sad, questioning look. "It's okay," the brunette murmured, swallowing, keeping her voice low. "We aren't going to hurt you. But those messages have been... confusing, to say the least."

The girl sniffed loudly. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay," Mitsuko repeated, and reached out to easily take the white envelope from her hands. "What's your name?" she asked, as kindly as she could. "You called me sempai - so you're one of the first year students, right?"

"Yes..." Her gray eyes widened a little. "I'm... Aiha. Yazawa Aiha. I'm in class 1-3..."

"Oh, with Asazuki Mai-chan?"

"How - how did you know?"

"Mai-chan is my best friend." Mitsuko smiled down at the girl, and gradually Aiha returned her smile, although she seemed rather reluctant to do so. "We've known each other for a very long time. Same with Lacuna - Lacuna Rutherford." She motioned to the teen who had climbed the stairs to stand beside her, who gave the younger student a little wave. "It's nice to meet you, Aiha-chan. I'm sorry it has to be under these circumstances, but..."

"It's - it's okay. It's nice to meet you, too." The black-haired girl gave a short bow, clasping her hands tightly together. "I... I'm really sorry about this, but... but she's making me do this - and I didn't have a choice - "

"Who is "she"?" Lacuna had calmed down somewhat, thanks to Mitsuko's intervention, and he took the envelope from the brunette's hands, absently tearing it open at the seal. "Someone you know?"

"... yes ..." Aiha's gray eyes dropped to the ground. "... although I don't really know her... she only asked me to give you these messages..."

"Why?"

"She knows a secret about me." The girl began to tremble, slightly, her hands still clasped together. "Something terrible... And if I don't give you these messages, she's going to tell everyone..."

"Well," Mitsuko spoke up, glancing over at Lacuna as he pulled a postcard from the envelope, "you don't need to worry. We won't ask you anything else. There's a saying... "don't shoot the messenger," I think it is." She smiled, reaching out to pat the younger girl on one shoulder - watching as she flinched again, a bit sharper this time. "Thank you for making your delivery, Aiha-chan. I know it's a stressful situation for you... so if there is anything we can do to help..."

"You're a kind person, Narumi-sempai..." Aiha bit down on her bottom lip, staring down at her shoes. "Thank you... but... I'm worried that I'll be found out if I talk to you much more than this... it's bad enough that I was caught by you..." She reached up to wipe at her teary eyes, sniffing. "I hope you're not mad..."

"Of course not." The brunette shook her head. "We just want to find out who's been sending me these messages, that's all." Lacuna passed her the postcard and she took it, but didn't look at it. "You can go. Please take care, okay?"

Aiha lifted her head, apparently surprised. "... o - okay."

"And if you ever need anything, Lacuna and I are in class 2-4. Just come ask for us at lunch or at the Newspaper Club." Mitsuko smiled, stepping aside to allow the girl to pass. As Aiha looked between the two of them, uncertain - as if she wasn't convinced that they were really letting her go - the older girl thought to add something. "By the way," she began, "I know Mai-chan may come across as a little scary, but she's a really good person at heart. So if you'd like someone to protect you, you can always talk to her."

"... okay. Thank you..." The girl rubbed at her eyes again, then bowed, deeply, before rushing down the stars, across the yard, and onto the sidewalk. Both teens turned to watch her flee, her purple backpack thumping heavily against the side of her arm as she ran at full speed away from the house. She turned a corner and disappeared down an alley, and then she was gone, leaving two silent students in her wake.

* * *

><p>"What does it mean?"<p>

"I don't know." Mitsuko swallowed hard, looking up into Lacuna's eyes. The two teens stood close together, nearly forehead-to-forehead, bent to stare down at the postcard held between the brunette's hands. After Aiha had fled, they had hurried inside the front door of the Narumi house; only Kyou was home, and already in his room busy with homework, so they had remained in the kitchen, looking at the postcard that had been within the white envelope. This third message was just as cryptic as the first two, and yet...

_They are closer than you think._

"Could "they" mean the Blade Children?" Lacuna sounded almost breathless, his attention still fixed on the postcard. "Do you think that's what someone could be trying to tell us? That they're nearby?"

"I don't know," Mitsuko said again. "That seems like the obvious answer... but it isn't necessarily the right one." She frowned. ""They" could be any group of people. Or the message could be referring to people who are "closer" in a non-literal sense, as in... closer to solving a mystery." She paused, thinking. "It could even be referring to us..."

"As in... we're closer than we think to figuring out what the first two cards mean?" The white-haired teen sounded skeptical. "Wouldn't they have written "you are closer" rather than "they are closer," if that was the intended meaning?"

"Yes," she admitted, and sighed. She dropped the postcard on the kitchen bar and sank into a seat, lifting a hand to smooth back the curls of her hair that had fallen into her face. Lacuna quietly took a seat beside her, not speaking, and there was a short silence before she continued to voice her thoughts. "That girl said there was a "she" who told her to leave the postcards," she murmured, twirling a strand of hair between two fingers. "And that she didn't really know her. But whoever this is must know me well enough to have directed Aiha to my house... although, that _is_ public information, I guess..."

"Could it be another student?" Mitsuko's companion drummed his fingers along the top of the bar. "Or do you think it could even be someone you know? Like a family member?"

"I can't see my aunt wanting me to find out any more than I already have, so I think I can rule that one out. And my mother..." She shook her head. "No. She would never threaten to blackmail anyone in such a way to get what she wants. She's entirely too kind for something like that. There was real fear in that girl's face, too." She frowned slightly, remembering the way Aiha had flinched when she had been touched, tears rolling down her cheeks. "It very well could be another student. But it would need to be someone who knew me well enough from my first year to know that I would investigate the meaning behind these notes."

"I don't think it's that, though." He turned his head to her. "The more you find, the more it sounds like you have a personal connection to what is happening. Right? You said you heard your parents say something about the "remaining children," and that may have a link to the Blade Children. Then, with the second card, the reference to falling from the roof sounded like the Munemiya Kana incident. Don't you think that whoever "she" is knows that you have a connection to these events?"

"You're saying it couldn't be one of my classmates, then. Because they wouldn't know."

"Exactly."

"Then who..." She blinked up at him. "Who else could it be? Someone from my parents' pasts?"

He nodded, slowly. "That's what I'm thinking. Someone who is trying to tell you something that happened before you were born."

"It makes sense considering how many times I've heard them say that things were painful for them. But..." She paused, thinking. "There are only a few people who know me and also know the details of what happened back then, from what I've been hearing. There are my parents, my aunt and uncle, your father, Kirie-san, and Mai's parents." She held up five fingers on one hand and three on the other; then, suddenly, raised one more. "And possibly my aunt's former partner. So far, it seems like there are less than ten people who know what went on, and may have information about the Blade Children or what happened at Tsukiomi, and already we've found that six of them aren't really willing to talk about it. And unless this Wataya guy is willing to spill the beans entirely, or Kirie-san is blackmailing grade school students..." She frowned. "No. I just don't think it's someone I know."

"Kirie can be pretty scary sometimes, but she doesn't strike me as the type to leave hints. She'd just come out and tell you if there was something you needed to know." Lacuna reached out to pick up the postcard that lay on the counter before them, flipping it over to reveal another image of Tokyo Tower - this one at night, presumably during the spring season, when the tower was lit up with gentle pink, purple, and orange lights. "You're thinking it would have to be someone we're not aware of?" he asked.

"That's my guess." Her eyes focused on the card held between his hands. "Someone who knows about the past, and at least knows of me well enough to feel assured that I will uncover the truth behind the events... And someone who knows something about that girl - Aiha - that is dangerous enough to provoke her into becoming a messenger."

"Poor thing..."

"I know." Mitsuko sighed. "That's just another complicated addition to our mystery. She didn't seem aware of the messages, though - and based on the way she reacted, it's doubtful that she is involved beyond this person's attempt to use her as a tool. They may not have counted on her getting caught and revealing that the note writer was a female..."

"But at the same time, she didn't really reveal anything. She knew enough not to tell us exactly who has been sending these messages." He flipped over the postcard, scanning the message on the back again. "So it doesn't seem like we're any closer than we were before."

"Not yet." The brunette reached out to take the card from his hands. "But we are closer to _something_, aren't we?"

Lacuna looked at the message, then at her, and laughed lightly. "I guess so, huh?"

* * *

><p>Later that evening, after dinner with her family, finishing her homework, playing video games with her brother, and a long hot bath, Mitsuko perched on the leather chair in front of her computer and eagerly read an email that had arrived only minutes before she'd gone into her room. She'd been waiting for several days for a response to a post she'd made on a BBS within the "deep web," a specially hidden and encrypted portion of the internet where she and scores of other people traded information. On Monday morning she had made a vague post asking for information on a Tokyo detective going by the name of Wataya; by Monday afternoon she had already learned the basics about him, but what she really wanted was a way to contact him. And that, she observed, was what she got:<p>

_His full name is Wataya Suemaru, age 53. He held the position of investigator for twenty years, then transferred to general police duties. He retired early due to an injury in a standoff. He walks with a limp. He has breakfast in the same cafe every Friday morning, usually at 7 am sharp. He has eaten there every Friday since he retired. Sometimes he meets others, sometimes he is alone. The address is attached._

_If you plan to meet him: he is not to be considered a threat. I have a picture from the security cameras that will help you identify him. He is very friendly. He also tips very well._

Mitsuko smirked at the last line of this message, downloading the two files attached to the email and sending a quick note of thanks before deleting both the message and the temporary email address she'd used for the purpose of gathering information from the BBS. "Sounds like my friend works at the cafe," she murmured to herself. "I guess we're everywhere these days..."

She opened the text file containing the address first - although, as usual, she had to run it through a program to decipher the code used before it became readable. She copied this into the small notebook that she usually kept by her bed, opposite the page where she'd recently written out notes about the Mikanagi File and Blade Children. Next she opened the image file, which, much to her surprise, was not protected in any way. Though grainy and monochrome, the security camera snapshot was clearly focused on one individual: Wataya Suemaru, a tall, bulky man with dark hair who sat in a corner booth, hunched over a cup of coffee and a plate of eggs and rice. "Well," Mitsuko murmured, smiling, "that's not what I expected obasan's partner to look like at all... But that's how it goes." She hid the photo on her desktop, then rose from her chair, turning off her monitor. "I hope you can tell me what I need to know, Wataya-san," she said, quietly. "I really do..."


	7. lies and truth

On Friday morning, Mitsuko slipped out of her house an hour earlier than usual, being careful not to draw any attention to what she was doing or why. She left behind a short note explaining that she was going to school early to assist with the distribution of the first issue of the school newspaper - which was not entirely a lie, because it was being printed that morning, but it wasn't exactly the truth, either. She walked the short distance to the Asazuki household swiftly, her hands tucked inside of the sleeves of her coat. It was chilly, for a mid-April morning, and she was nervous.

She arrived at the front of the cozy two-story house that belonged to Mai's parents and rang the bell, standing shivering on the front step until the door was pulled open and a tall man with reddish-purple hair and bright green eyes looked down at her. "Oh!" he exclaimed, seeing the brunette there, and immediately grinned. "Ohayou, Mitsuko-chan."

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Asazuki-san." She smiled. "Is Mai-chan ready yet?"

"Not yet. Come on in."

"Thank you." Mitsuko happily ducked inside, out of the cold, breathing out a sigh as the front door was closed and she was met with the warmth of the Asazuki house. Asazuki Kousuke, Mai's father, gave her a gentle pat on one shoulder as he locked the door, watching her kick off her shoes. "It's really cold out there this morning," she remarked, looking up at the tall man as she dropped her bag to the ground beside her shoes. "I would have run here, but I probably would have fallen..."

"Still got the grace of a ballerina with bricks for shoes, eh?" Kousuke chuckled, reaching up to adjust his glasses. "Some boys consider that kind of thing charming, you know. You might not seem so scary to your classmates if you tripped on purpose every now and again."

"I need a boyfriend like I need a hole in my head, Asazuki-san," she replied matter-of-factly, to which the redhead laughed loudly. He motioned for her to follow him and she did, entering the kitchen of the house. Ryouko stood at the stove making breakfast, and upon hearing Mitsuko's approach, looked over her shoulder and offered a slight smile. "Ohayou gozaimasu, Ryouko-san," the teenager greeted her.

"Ohayou." Mai's mother was not a morning person by any means, and she let out a yawn after returning Mitsuko's greeting, raising one hand to cover her mouth. The teenager watched as Kousuke moved to stand beside her at the stove, bending to plant a kiss on her cheek and whisper something into her ear. "Stop it," Ryouko muttered, but Mitsuko saw her lips twitch into a smile, something that made her smile, too. Growing up, Kousuke and Ryouko had been like a second aunt and uncle to her, and she'd always been amused by their constant bantering and generally easygoing ways. They fought at times, but only playfully, and Mitsuko knew full well that their daughter meant everything to them. Mai had been unplanned - she'd overheard Kousuke saying once that he never had any intentions of being a father - but she had been raised well, allowed to become whatever she wanted. There had been some initial misgivings about their daughter's choice in music and dress, and Ryouko hadn't been pleased at all when Mai began dying her hair, but the teenager's sexuality had never been an issue. Mai had declared herself gay at fourteen and neither of her parents had batted an eye - something Mitsuko thought that her younger friend should have probably been more grateful for.

Mitsuko only had to wait in the kitchen a few seconds before she heard the sound of footsteps on the floor above her head, followed by several small taps and thumps as Mai left her bedroom, rushed down the stairs, and skidded into the room with her bag slung over one shoulder. "Ohayou," she said casually, her fingers preoccupied with buttoning the front of her uniform top over what looked to be another one of her many band-related T-shirts. "Ready to go, Mitsuko?"

The brunette smiled slightly. "Yes."

"Hold on, aren't you going to eat any breakfast?" Kousuke gave both girls a confused look, one eyebrow raised. "Is handing out the school newspaper really that important?"

"It's the first issue. Mitsuko worked really hard on it. Lakkun, too." The raven-haired girl gave her father a big smile, finishing off the top button on her shirt before hurrying in the direction of the refrigerator. "Don't worry, I'll eat a big lunch," she said, opening the door and retrieving a bentou box that was casually tossed into the bag on her shoulder. "Okay?"

Ryouko smiled slightly. "If I hear one word of complaint during gym class about how hungry you are..."

"Yeah, yeah." Mai made a face at her mother, spinning around on one heel and dashing in the direction of the door. Mitsuko looked between Ryouko and Kousuke, shrugging apologetically at them before following her friend into the front room. The back-haired girl was wearing sneakers today, having already been banned from her favorite pair of heavy combat boots after the first week, and she tied the laces rapidly without so much as looking at her fingers. "Are you ready?" she asked Mitsuko, her green eyes eager behind her glasses.

"Sort of..."

"Lakkun couldn't make it?"

"No." The brunette shook her head, bending to slip on her loafers again. "His parents got back last night, and he has something to do before class." She sighed a little as she straightened, watching Mai reach for a thick black overcoat that was resting on a hook by the front door. "I don't think he liked what I was planning, either..."

"Well, that's his loss." Mai turned, looking back in the direction of the door. "I'm out!"

Kousuke poked his head through the doorway, giving his daughter a critical look over the top of his glasses, and Mitsuko couldn't help but giggle at the stern expression (and its similarity to Mai's own occasional stern looks). "What kind of person says something like that when they're leaving the house?"

The dark-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Ittekimasu."

"That's better." Her father grinned, raising a hand to wave at both girls. "Have a good day. Nice to see you again, Mitsuko-chan."

"Have a good day, Asazuki-san." Mitsuko bowed to the redhead, then turned to follow Mai through the front door and out into the chilly April air. Almost immediately she became nervous again, knowing what it was that they were about to do - but she swallowed back those feelings as her feet met the sidewalk and they started off in the direction of a nearby cafe, one where a man named Wataya Suemaru had breakfast every Friday morning.

* * *

><p>"This is the place, yeah?"<p>

"Looks like it." Twenty minutes later, the girls paused outside of a small, unassuming restauraunt with a billboard above the door that read "Cafe Vermillion." The shop looked as if it had been squeezed into the middle of a row of existing stores, but its small size seemed to add a warm, cozy feeling. Mitsuko looked down at her cell phone's GPS, confirming that they had arrived at the coordinates she'd been given before pressing the power button to place the phone into standby. "As long as my informant can be trusted, Wataya-san should be inside having his breakfast right now."

"Informant?" Mai laughed, crossing her arms. "You and that deep web stuff..."

"Mmhmm." The brunette swallowed hard, sliding her cell phone into her coat pocket. "Listen, Mai-chan... I know you want to barge in and try to talk to him, but if he's anything like my aunt, he'll have a really bad reaction if you start talking about cases out of the blue. So I want to - " The younger girl suddenly pushed open the door and entered, and Mitsuko groaned, slapping her palm into her forehead. "Mai-chan," she continued, urgently, following her friend inside, "listen to me. We aren't going to do it like this."

"The world's not a spy novel, Mitsuko." Mai gave her a sideways look, snorting as she removed her coat and hung it on an unoccupied hook, slipping the strap of her messenger bag over it. "You _can_ just walk up and talk to people."

"We are going to get in so much trouble..." Mitsuko sighed, but there wasn't much they could do now: they were already inside the small cafe. Much to her surprise, the restaurant was fresh and modern, much like an American-style cafe, with walls painted white, a row of barstools at a small counter, and various round tables and cushioned booths spread out through the room. The girls lingered in the entrance as Mitsuko removed her own coat and hung up her bag, Mai already looking over the faces of the various men and women sitting at the bar or in booths. The brunette unexpectedly found herself making eye contact with a pretty young blonde woman standing behind the counter, pouring a glass of juice for a man seated there. The woman blinked at her, then smiled cheerfully, bowing slightly at Mitsuko. "I think I found my informant," she murmured to herself, hesitantly returning the smile. "Weird that she would know - "

"Right there." Mai suddenly pointed in the direction of a booth on the far end of the room. Mitsuko followed her gaze and saw a tall, bulky man with black hair graying around his temples, his large form hunched over a newspaper and a mug of something hot and steaming, probably coffee. "That's him, isn't it?"

"Looks like it - Mai! Where are you going?" The brunette stared at her friend, dumbfounded, as she started striding in the direction of the booth. "What are you _doing_?"

"I'm going to talk to him, duh." The younger girl gave her a look over one shoulder that clearly asked if Mitsuko was mentally challenged. "Come on."

"This is not a good idea," Mitsuko muttered, but followed anyway. The girls weaved through occupied tables and chairs before arriving at the booth occupied by former detective Wataya Suemaru - yes, up close, it was obvious that they'd found him. Mai didn't ask permission before plopping down on the empty side of the booth, giving the surprised man a grin as he lifted his head over the top of his newspaper to stare at her. Mitsuko had to resist the urge to smack herself in the forehead, clearing her throat softly. "Excuse me, ojisan," she began, causing him to swivel his head in her direction, "we don't mean to interrupt your breakfast, but my friend and I had a few questions for you."

Wataya stared at them, looking back and forth for a moment, until finally his eyes settled on Mitsuko and widened. "Those are Tsukiomi uniforms," he stated, and before either girl could respond, he continued: "and the name on your badge - Narumi?"

She winced, wondering if this instant recognition was a bad thing... but could she have expected any less from a detective? "Yes... your former partner, Narumi Madoka, is my aunt."

"Ehhhhhh?" His eyes grew even wider. "Narumi-keibuhou's - ?"

"Oh boy..." Mai snorted, grinning at Mitsuko, who reluctantly dropped into the seat beside her. "Ne, ossan," she started, leaning forward, "can we ask you a couple things? Somebody's been leaving Mitsuko some weird notes, and it sounds like they tie into some of the cases you worked on back then. Madoka-san won't tell us about them, and the notes aren't doing anything but making us confused."

The detective frowned, looking from one girl to another again, and sat up straight, placing his paper to one side. "Does Narumi-keibuhou know you're here?"

Mai sounded exasperated. "Of _course_ not. She'd probably strangle us if she did. Then my mom would find out, and I'd get kicked down a flight of stairs - "

"Er..." Mitsuko finally interrupted, giving Wataya a hesitant smile. "We should introduce ourselves. My name is Narumi Mitsuko, and this is my friend Asazuki Mai." She gave a short bow, trying to avoid knocking her chin into the tabletop - and reached out to tug hard on Mai's skirt, prompting the younger girl to quickly bow as well. "We only had a few questions, if you wouldn't mind giving us a couple minutes of your time. We aren't trying to go behind my aunt's back or anything, but she's..." She paused, trying to find the right word. "... she's reluctant," she finished, finally, "to talk about some of the things that happened back then."

"Back then?" Wataya seemed to have calmed somewhat, and fixed Mitsuko with a questioning gaze. "You mean twenty years ago?"

She blinked. "How did you know?"

"Hmmm. It was a strange time. I thought you might want to know about it, someday." He gave her a good-natured smile, and she thought to herself that he really wasn't a bad person at all - quite friendly, actually, though somewhat dramatic. She wondered, though, how he could have ever put up working with her aunt... "When Narumi-keibuhou mentioned that her little brother had gotten married and had a little girl, well... I did wonder if he'd ever tell you anything about what went on when he was at Tsukiomi."

Mai seemed annoyed at being left out of this conversation, and she spoke up, staring at the tall detective. "Like the murder of Munemiya Kana?"

"Yes... that." He nodded. "It was frightening to see high schoolers acting so brutal." He frowned slightly, the smile disappearing from his face. "But that event is a matter of public record. You're asking about things that aren't so easy to find, aren't you?"

"You got it." The black-haired girl grinned. "Either someone's leading us on a wild goose chase, or there's a bunch of things we don't know about our parents. And judging by the way you're talking, something crazy happened while they were at Tsukiomi."

"... Asazuki." A light bulb suddenly seemed to have clicked on in the man's head. "You're that redheaded guy's daughter?"

Mai leaned forward again, excited. "You know my old man?"

He sighed. "He caused a lot of trouble for us... along with that Eyes Rutherford character."

At this Mitsuko couldn't help but interrupt. "Eyes Rutherford caused you trouble, Wataya-san? But he didn't go to Tsukiomi, did he?"

"No. But he was there when - " He suddenly stopped himself, mid-sentence, and looked down into his coffee cup with a troubled expression. The teenagers exchanged worried glances, and Mitsuko was about to ask if something was wrong when he spoke again, quietly, choosing his words very carefully. "I shouldn't be telling you anything that your parents haven't," he said. "It was a troubling time for a lot of people. I'm sure that they are only trying to protect you from learning something upsetting."

"I know they are trying to protect us." The brunette nodded, slowly, her tone serious. "But someone is urging us to investigate these things. And if there is something that is important for us to know..."

"Who is this "someone"?" Wataya looked between each girl, his expression still serious. "You've mentioned that someone is leaving you notes - do you know who?"

"No." Mai began to shake her head, then stopped, smiling wryly. "Well - yes. Mitsuko's had three postcards show up addressed to her. She found out who was delivering them, but apparently there's somebody else pulling the strings. One of the girls in my class is being blackmailed into it, which makes sense because she acts like a total _nutcase_..."

Mitsuko looked sharply at her friend. "Mai."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Sorry." The raven-haired girl cleared her throat. "Anyway, the first note said "what are the Blade Children?" and - "

Wataya nearly spilled his coffee. Both girls stared, wide-eyed, as he fumbled with the mug, pushing it aside with his newspaper, his large hands suddenly shaking. The table was silent, and he didn't lift his eyes for a long moment, instead staring at his hands. Mitsuko managed to find her voice, feeling her heart begin to pound. "Judging by that reaction," she began, her voice nearly a whisper, "you really do know something about the Blade Children... don't you, Wataya-san?"

"Narumi-keibuhou - no, Madoka-san - " He shook his head, frowning, folding his hands together. "... she asked me to never mention that phrase again."

"My aunt - " She sucked in a breath. "She knows what the Blade Children are?"

"Mitsuko-chan... I'm sorry. But I can't tell you anything about that subject." Wataya raised his dark eyes to hers, and his expression was suddenly sorrowful. "Madoka-san would be furious with me if I told you any more than you already may know. I promised her that I would never speak a word about the Blade Children to anybody."

Mai didn't take this statement well, suddenly leaning forward in her seat. "Listen here, old man. You're gonna be in a whole new world of hurt if you don't tell us what you know."

"You can do what you want to me." The tall man lifted a trembling hand to his forehead. "But I won't say a word about the Blade Children. Ask me anything else you want and I'll tell you - but I can't break my promise to Madoka-san..." His voice cracked. "Please don't look into this any further. I know that someone is trying to dig up the past, but if that's what they are trying to tell you about... they can't have good intentions. Please don't pursue the truth about the Blade Children."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Mai seemed intrigued. "This sounds pretty serious. So it's not just something lame like a codeword for something else, is it?"

"If you learned the truth about the Blade Children, your life would be ruined." These words sent a chill down Mitsuko's spine, and even Mai seemed caught off guard by this declaration - especially because the man's dark eyes were fixed on _her_, not Mitsuko. The brunette stared at Wataya, forgetting to breathe, and her thoughts were moving at such a fast pace that she couldn't make sense of anything. Wataya slowly turned his eyes on her, and she let out a soft squeak, surprised, when he suddenly reached out to cover both of his hands with one of his. "Your parents are good people," he said, his voice low, "and Madoka-san is a good woman. They have been working very hard to protect you since you were born. You must tell them what is happening."

She swallowed, her mouth and throat dry. "I - but - "

"No. Don't object." His brows furrowed. "Please tell them. Before anything else happens... promise me you will tell them."

She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, slowly nodding her head. "I... I will tell them."

"Today?"

"Yes. Today."

Mai let out an annoyed groan. "Mitsuko, they're just gonna get mad at us - !"

"And you. Mai-chan." Wataya's attention returned to the black-haired girl, who gave him a skeptical look. He lifted his hand from Mitsuko's and reached out to pat her gently on one arm - which resulted in the girl quickly yanking her limbs from the table, her green eyes narrowing at him. "I didn't know your father very well," he began, "but if he is a better person now - better than he was before - he will understand, if you tell him about the messages. The last thing he would want for you would be for you to relive what he experienced."

"The hell are you _talking_ about?"

"Mai-chan." Mitsuko took her friend's hand in one of hers, realizing all at once that her fingers were shaking. "We should go. We're going to be late if we stay any longer."

"Go? _Now_?" The girl gave her a dismayed look, her emerald eyes dark. "But ossan hasn't told us anything useful - "

"Now," the brunette insisted, and yanked on Mai's hand. The black-haired girl reluctantly followed her as she slid out of the booth, and as both girls stood, Mitsuko gave Wataya a deep bow, not caring whether her friend followed suit or not. "I'm sorry that we disturbed you, Wataya-san," she said, her tone unsteady as she rose, then turned to leave the booth. "Thank you for your time."

"Mitsuko!" Mai's tone was incredulous, and the older girl could hear her friend's dismay - and anger - in each word as they crossed the cafe, leaving the booth behind. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"We need to go."

"Why? _Fuck_ school, if that's what this is about - we could get him to tell us what the Blade Children are! We were so close!"

Mitsuko ignored the younger girl, walking quickly in the direction of the exit. She removed her coat from its hook and slid it on, looping the strap of her bag over one shoulder. Beside her, Mai's gaze was smouldering, but she reluctantly followed suit, stuffing her arms into the sleeves of her jacket and picking up her own bag. As they moved to the door, Mitsuko felt a pair of eyes on her - and when she turned back to look at the young blonde woman behind the counter, the smile she had seen before was gone, replaced by a serious, almost knowing gaze. The brunette shivered violently, and as soon as the door was open, she broke into a run down the sidewalk, wanting to get away from that cafe as quickly as possible.

* * *

><p>"So, Mai's pretty pissed at you."<p>

"I know she is." Hours later, Mitsuko leaned on the end of a broom, sighing heavily to herself. She and Lacuna were in the middle of cleaning the Newspaper Club room, preparing for the weekend. After the events of that morning, and the distribution of the first issue of the school newspaper, the brunette hadn't felt much like a club meeting that day... especially because concentrating in class had been difficult enough. She'd ended up standing in the hallway for ten minutes after her math instructor had caught her spacing out in the middle of a lesson. She'd never been punished like that before, and when she'd re-entered the room, Lacuna had given her hand a soft squeeze beneath her desk, his blue eyes sympathetic. She had told him the whole tale that morning, before homeroom started, and he'd been just as dismayed as she was. During lunch, however, he'd heard another version of the story from Mai, who sent him several angry text messages over the course of ten minutes. "Mitsuko ran away like a coward," one of them said, to which the brunette had snorted, rolling her eyes. Thinking about it again, in the present time, just made her angry. "She'll get over it," the brunette remarked, looking out the window of the club room, in the direction of the track. "I wasn't willing to be any more reckless than I already was."

"Hearing what you said about the whole thing, that was probably the right decision to make." Lacuna chuckled. "But you know how Mai is. She's completely convinced that you could have stuck around for another couple minutes and solved the whole mystery. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to track down your aunt's partner herself."

"She could try, but I don't think she'd get very far." The brunette frowned. "I might have to call Ryouko-san and ask for a favor, though, just to be safe..."

"Going to get your best friend grounded?" He laughed outright this time. "That's low, Mitzi. But in this case, it might be for the best..."

"Everything I've done has been for the best. Mai has to see that." She shook her head, slowly. "The way Wataya-san reacted when he heard the phrase "Blade Children"... and the way that blonde woman looked at me, too..."

"I wish I'd been there." The white-haired teen clapped two erasers together behind her, coughing as a cloud of chalk dust was created. "But my dad needed me to help him move some of the furniture around in the spare room, since my aunt's coming to visit..."

"Rio-san is?"

"Yeah. She gets in tonight. I guess they stopped to see her on the way back from London, and she was convinced to take a vacation for a while." Lacuna's voice softened. "I haven't seen her in a really long time, so it will be nice to catch up..."

"Mm." Mitsuko breathed out another sigh. "I guess you won't be able to come with me after school, then..."

"Sorry." He walked across the room to meet her at the window, erasers still in hand. "I know you want me to be there when you tell your parents about the postcards, but I can't. I mean... you could wait until tomorrow, but..."

"I promised Wataya-san I would tell them today." She lifted her eyes to his. "So that's what I'm going to do. No more lies."

He smiled slightly. "You're a good girl, Mitzi. I just hope it isn't as bad as it sounds..."

"Me too." She looked down at the floor, then to her broom, and shook her head. "I don't feel much like cleaning, or doing any club activities, or anything like that... Can we just... go?"

"Yeah. Sure." He reached out to pat her gently on one shoulder. "I'll walk you home, at least - okay?"

"If you insist."

They closed up the Newspaper Club room and gathered their things, walking down the stairs to the shoe cabinets without speaking. They parted and then met again at the main entrance, tossing on their coats before stepping out into the still chilly April afternoon. As they started their walk in the direction of the Narumi household, Mitsuko's mind went to work: she had to decide how to tell her parents what had been going on, what she already knew, and what she wanted to know. She'd heard several people indicate that her parents had been involved in painful, complicated times - and now she knew that her aunt had been involved, too, to some extent - so her approach to the situation would have to be delicate. She wanted to ask so many questions, but the one at the top of her list was simple: what are the Blade Children?

"Hey," Lacuna said, suddenly, only a minute into their walk, "why is it that you didn't tell your parents about the first postcard you got?"

"I didn't think it was going to lead to anything like this." She lifted her head, staring ahead at the mostly clear path that led in the direction of her home. "Last year, people did a lot of stupid things because of my involvement with the Newspaper Club. Girls would pass me dumb notes about who was dating who, and ask me to write an article for the paper. Boys would demand that I interview them and do a profile of their success in one sport or another. And some of my classmates would give me puzzles or things in code, and tell me to solve them - although that was probably due to my father's reputation as a detective, not the club." She paused, allowing herself a moment of annoyance at those past events. "So when I first got the postcard, I thought it was a piece of code, or something I could understand easily. But I didn't find anything online, and that just made me more determined to figure it out." She breathed in, deeply, then exhaled. "I was still working on it when I got that second postcard. But when I overheard my parents talking, and they said something about the "remaining children," I started to think that there could have been a link to the Blade Children. And some of the other things I heard..." She hesitated, realizing that she hadn't told him (or Mai) about the way she had recorded her aunt and father's conversation. "Well, it became obvious that there was something being hidden from us..."

"Yeah." He nodded, apparently following her reasoning. "I get it. And this did all happen pretty fast..."

"Really fast." She bit down on her bottom lip. "Last month, I thought I was just a normal high school student. Now it's like... little pieces of my life are being revealed as fake, or..." She frowned. "I really don't know how to describe it. But it all bothers me, and probably more than it should."

"Shouldn't it be bothering Mai?"

"That's the thing." Her expression darkened. "Wataya-san said that _her_ life could be ruined by learning the truth about the Blade Children. He didn't say the same thing about me, even though it sounds like my aunt - and probably my parents - are the ones who were involved. But he also said something about her father not being a good person..."

"Asazuki-san?" Lacuna sounded dumbfounded. "He's never been anything but friendly to us both. He's gotta be the nicest lawyer on the planet."

"I know. People do strange things when they're young, but..." She raised her eyes to his. "Don't repeat this to Mai, but I did check before, in the past - when I was first learning to... research... these things. None of our parents have a criminal record, even one that's been expunged, or for something that occurred in another country. So if Asazuki-san did anything wrong, it wasn't anything that got the police involved." She tilted her head slightly. "And don't you have to be criminally cleared to practice law?"

"No idea." He shrugged. "But even so, I can't see why anyone would say something like that about him." He paused. "Although, there was that one time he was trying to give me a boost to reach the top of the equipment at a playground and he dropped me..."

Mitsuko giggled, abruptly, feeling some of the tension broken by Lacuna's remark. "More like you squirmed out of his arms, probably."

"No way. I was a perfect kid." He grinned down at her. "I never did anything wrong."

"I can remember plenty of evidence suggesting the contrary..."

"Pfft." He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "Except for that one time I did that one thing that you got really, really, REALLY mad about - "

She looked at him sharply. "We're still not talking about that."

" ... except for that one time, I never did anything wrong." There was a beat, and then he blinked, staring down at her. "Are you _still_ mad about that?"

"Furious."

"It's been like - " He counted on his fingers. " - five years! How can you still hold a grudge over something I did five years ago?"

"We are not talking about this, Lacuna." She was glaring, now, her arms crossed tightly in front of her chest. "You were sworn to secrecy, because if Mai ever found out, we would not hear the end of it. And, again: I am still furious." She huffed. "I have better things to think about right now. Stop distracting me."

"Hmm... Maybe you secretly liked it..."

"Shut up."

His voice was growing more playful by the second. "Maybe you'd like it more now than you did back then..."

"Lacuna. _Shut up_. Now."

"Maybe if I gave you just one little kiss..."

"SHUT. UP." She whirled around, lifting one hand to poke him hard in the chest with two fingers, giving him her angriest glare - the one she'd inherited from her father - and he only smiled, apparently immune to her anger in the face of his own amusement. "If I cared the least bit about romance, or boyfriends, or anything like that, I'd be mad because you stole my first kiss from me. But I don't, so I'm _mad_ - " She jabbed him in the chest with her fingers, growing angrier when he laughed. " - because you decided to just go ahead and do something so _stupid_ without _asking_ me first."

He grinned. "You're so cute when you're frustrated."

"_Idiot!_" She turned on her heel and stormed away, her shoes pounding hard against the sidewalk. "Don't bother walking me home!" she shouted over her shoulder, angrily. "I don't want to see you again until you've gotten enough sense in your head to stop bringing up things that make me mad!"

"That's fine!" he called, and at the sound of the cheerful tone of his voice, the brunette felt positively murderous. "See you Monday, Mitzi!"

She couldn't let him go without one more comment. She stopped, turned, and yelled over her shoulder at him, at the top of her lungs: "AND STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

* * *

><p>By the time she arrived home, Mitsuko's anger had died down to an acceptable level. She entered the house, kicking off her shoes and tossing her bag carelessly by the front door before nudging her feet into a pair of slippers and opening the door into the kitchen. "Taidaima," she called, only to be met with silence: no one was home. She glanced over her shoulder and confirmed that both parents and her brother were still out, judging by the lack of shoes. As she stepped inside, turning on a light, she remembered something about Kyou staying over at a friend's house for the night, which potentially explained why he, and perhaps her mother, weren't home. And since she was early, it was definitely possible that her father was still at work, and would be there until the early evening. So it seemed, she thought, that she would have some time to prepare herself.<p>

"I guess I'll figure out how to bring this up," she said aloud, her voice echoing through the empty kitchen. She walked slowly to the hallway and proceeded to her room, flicking on her bedroom light with one finger. "Maybe if I show them the postcards, I won't have to say anything at all." She crossed the room and lifted her computer keyboard, sighing. "If I give them these, and if they make sense to them, they should - "

She stopped, suddenly, mid-sentence, her eyes fixed on her desk. There was nothing beneath her keyboard. The postcards were gone.

The room was silent for a long moment, and then the brunette dropped the keyboard, not hearing the banging sound it made as it impacted the desk. The postcards were _gone_. And the implications of that -

Her voice was soft and scared when it finally formed words that left her mouth. "Oh no."


	8. breaking and entering

"Pick up. Pick up. Pick _up_, damn it, Lacuna, pick up your damn _phone_ - " Mitsuko muttered to herself as she paced the floor in her bedroom, her cell phone held tightly to her ear. She'd ransacked her room, just in case - torn apart her backpack, just in case, gone through her notebooks, just in case - but she knew full well that her postcards, the ones now missing, had been beneath her keyboard that morning. She'd even looked at them, thought about taking them with her. But they were gone.

A recorded message helpfully chirped in her ear that the person she was calling was not available. The brunette swore loudly, yanking the device away from her ear and jabbing the redial button onscreen with one finger. "Pick up," she began chanting again, repeating this routine for the fifth time. "I swear to god Lacuna, if you don't answer your phone, I will find you and_ kill you_; pick UP - "

There was a soft beep, a pause, and then a breathless voice. "Hello?"

She gasped, surprised. "Lakkun - "

"Mitsuko?" He immediately sounded worried, perhaps alarmed by her tone; although she'd spoken only a single word, she knew that the tremor in her voice was strangely revealing. "What is it? Did something happen?"

"My postcards are gone." She heard him draw in a sharp breath, and this sound only served to make her even more worried. "They were under my keyboard when I left for school this morning, and now they're gone. I don't know where they could have been moved. But someone was in my room. Someone took them."

"Your parents?"

"I don't know." She began to pace again, nervous, clutching the phone tightly in her hand. "Neither of them are here. But I know the postcards were here when I left this morning. I was going to take them with me, but then I decided against it. Either one of them took them, or Kyou, or - " She stopped, her eyes widening. "Or - "

"Get out of there. Right now." Lacuna's voice became serious in an instant, and at the sound of this command, the brunette immediately left her room, intending to grab her shoes and bag and flee the house. Her mind was filled with terrible possibilities - that someone had broken into the house, into her room, and taken the postcards, or implanted a keylogger on her keyboard, or looked through her computer, or even hurt her parents - and she knew Lacuna was thinking the same thing. But she got no further than the kitchen when she heard the familiar sound of the front door of the house opening, and she stopped in her tracks, unable to keep herself from shrieking softly. In her ear, her friend's voice was immediately urgent. "Mitsuko! What's happening?"

"Someone's coming in - "

"Who?"

She was frozen, afraid to move, unsure how to act - and in the midst of her panic, she heard a voice that sounded like her father's. She exhaled, shakily, raising her free hand to touch her forehead, finding herself surprised by the way she was trembling. "I think it's my dad," she said, softly, relieved. "If - if someone was in here, I can tell him..."

Lacuna didn't sound convinced. "Are you sure it's him?"

The door to the kitchen opened, and Narumi Ayumu peeked in - and Mitsuko swallowed, hard, nodding although Lacuna couldn't see her. "Yes."

"So what are you - "

"Mitsuko." Ayumu spoke, and the hardness of his voice sent an uncomfortable chill down the brunette's spine. She stood, unmoving, watching as her father opened the door the whole way, walking into the kitchen - and behind him followed not only Hiyono, but three others: a woman with long pink hair, a pale-haired man with glasses, and a short woman with gray hair and gray-blue eyes. The teenager could only gape at the appearance of Eyes Rutherford, Tsuchiya Kirie, and Takeuchi Rio, unsure what to make of this development, but her father's voice commanded her attention again before she could devote too much thought to it. "Who are you talking to?" he asked.

She swallowed again before answering. "Lacuna."

"What's _happening_?" Lacuna's voice was softer in her ear now - and she guessed he could hear her father speaking, although he had no way of knowing that his parents had appeared here, unexpectedly, with his aunt by their side - evidently earlier than he had expected. "Why does he sound so mad?"

"You're home early," Hiyono remarked, softly, and Mitsuko noticed all at once that her mother's eyes were pink around the edges, her face puffy as if she'd been crying. "You didn't... have club activities today...?"

"I - we decided to take the day off - "

"Mitsuko. I think it would be best if you gave us some time to talk." Eyes Rutherford inserted himself gracefully into this halting, awkward series of questions and answers, taking a step forward into the kitchen. In her ear, the teenager heard Lacuna curse loudly - evidently recognizing his father's voice - and then the line went dead, beeping a few times. "We have a few things to discuss that may not be appropriate for you to hear."

She opened her mouth to protest, only to see her father's face darken in a way that was downright dangerous. It had been a long time since she had seen her father give anyone that look - a terrifying, angry look that said so much without saying anything at all - and she was immediately scared. He was mad, and he was mad at her... and she was beginning to think that she knew exactly why. "Please," Eyes continued, gently, with a glance at the dark-haired man to his left, "would you excuse us?"

Her voice was more timid than she expected it to be. "Papa," she began, almost pleadingly, "I didn't mean to - "

"Go, Mitsuko," he said simply, his voice cold, and she felt she had no choice but to obey. She lowered her phone from her ear and proceeded slowly to the doorway, bowing her head as she passed all five adults, feeling their eyes on her as she did so. As she moved into the front room, in the direction of her shoes, she took one quick look over her shoulder - and although Rio was there, in the process of closing the door, she was still able to see past her... able to see that there was a familiar white envelope held low in her father's hand. Mitsuko drew in a sharp breath, involuntarily lifting her eyes, and when her gaze met Rio's the woman only shook her head at her, silently, her eyes wide and sad, before shutting the door. The brunette stood there, stunned and silent, for a long time, unsure what to do or say, only feeling as if she'd done something terrible.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Lacuna found her walking slowly down the sidewalk that bordered the main road. She saw him rushing her way, out of breath, as if he'd run the whole way to meet her. When he drew close she simply stopped walking, waiting, not speaking. The white-haired teen nearly collided with her, his blue eyes open wide and usually spiked hair flattened and made messy by the wind. He took her immediately by the shoulders, his voice strained as he stared down into her face. "What the fuck <em>happened<em> back there?" he demanded. "I heard my dad - "

"They found the postcards," she said, simply, and surprised herself by immediately bursting into tears. She heard Lacuna gasp, and as she tilted dangerously on her feet he was immediately there, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. Mitsuko did not consider herself the crying type, and had she not been so disappointed with herself, she would have been embarrassed - but the sound of her father's voice, cold and unfeeling, and the sad look on her mother's face, had sent her so far in the direction of miserable that she couldn't help herself. She buried her face in her friend's shoulder and did her best to hold back the sobs that rose into her throat, a warm stream of tears dripping from her eyes and soaking into the top of Lacuna's jacket. "I'm sorry," she choked out, "I - "

"No. Don't." He drew back, but kept an arm around her shoulder. She caught a glimpse of his expression and saw that he was clearly worried, his dark eyes trained on hers. "Let's go sit down somewhere, okay? I don't want you standing out here on the sidewalk crying."

She sniffed, lifting a hand to rub at her cheeks. "This isn't like me - "

"It doesn't matter. Come on." He guided her down the sidewalk, and they walked a short distance together, Mitsuko trying her hardest to stop the flow of tears that dripped down from her eyes. She kept her focus on her feet, hoping none of the passers-by noticed her tears - and that none of them were her classmates, which would have been far worse. "Here," Lacuna said, suddenly, stopping, and the brunette lifted her head to see that they had approached a small ice cream shop. "I used to come here a lot," he remarked, chuckling, as he pushed open the door for her. "We can stop in here for a little while. Is that okay?"

She took a step inside, giving her cheeks a hard swipe with both hands, hoping to clear them of moisture. "Yeah."

"Good." He led her to a table at the back of the store, helping her shed her coat before pulling out a chair for her. As she sat, discarding her bookbag (which she had grabbed on the way out), she was relieved to see that there were only three other people in the building with them. Two junior high-aged girls sat at a table near the entrance, giggling over their ice cream cones, while a stocky, dark-haired man with a thick mustache stood behind the counter where the ice cream selections were displayed, preoccupied with cleaning his scoops in a sink. "Wait here for a bit," Lacuna said, tossing his jacket over the back of the second chair before he vanished. Mitsuko didn't watch him go: she folded her hands together and focused, hard, on stopping her tears, her eyes closed tight. She was not the crying type - in fact, she hated crying more than anything - but she was at least glad that her friend hadn't made any comments about it. If it had been anyone else...

Lacuna reappeared at the table a few minutes later, slipping into his seat with his cell phone in one hand. His expression was grim as he tucked the device back into the pocket of his blue uniform pants - he hadn't had time to change, apparently, and neither had she. "I called Mai," he said, "and apparently as soon as she got home, her dad called her mom and said something that freaked her out enough to tell Mai that she wasn't allowed to leave the house. When I told her what happened, she said it made a lot more sense." He sighed. "So I'm guessing that whatever it is that's going on... her parents are definitely involved in it. I tried calling my dad after that, too, but my aunt answered his phone, and told me they were busy... and that I was supposed to keep an eye on you until someone called for us."

She swallowed. "Mm..."

"Cheer up." He reached across the table and patted her hands, still clasped tightly together. "You know everything will be okay, right? We just need to wait it out." When she didn't respond he covered her hands with his own, leaning forward so that their eyes met. "Mitzi. It'll be fine. Please don't be sad."

"I'm trying," she responded, her gaze dropping to his hands over hers. "But I just..."

"Feel guilty?"

"... yes."

"I know. But we couldn't have expected them to react like this." He began to draw away, but then apparently thought better of it; this time he reached out, slipping his palms between her hands and carefully pushing them apart. The brunette realized almost immediately that she'd been clasping her fingers together with so much pressure that they were already sore. "You're going to hurt yourself," he said, gently, chuckling as he drew his arms back. "Just relax for a bit. I ordered you some ice cream, if you feel like eating."

"I am a little hungry," she admitted, lifting her head. "But you didn't have to do that - "

"Yes I did," he interrupted, shaking his head at her. "You'll feel better once you get something in your stomach. I saw how you picked at your lunch today."

She frowned slightly. "Do you always watch my eating habits so closely?"

"Someone has to look out for you." He gave her a small grin. "I'm much more observant than you think."

"I'm not going to even bother telling you how wrong you are..."

"There's the Mitsuko I know," he said, laughing, propping his chin up in one hand. "I think I understand. The key to your good mood is being able to pick on me, isn't it?" She shot him an annoyed look and he only laughed again, louder, his blue eyes brightening. "What did you do before I got back here? Were you grumpy all the time?"

She reached for the spoon resting on her side of the table and immediately tossed it into his face. "Shut up."

"Does throwing things at me mean you're happier or angrier? It's so hard to tell." He caught the thrown utensil easily, spinning it around in between his fingers a few times before flipping it back at her. Unfortunately, the brunette's lack of hand-eye coordination resulted in the spoon smacking her solidly in the nose before clattering down to the surface of the table. Mitsuko winced, then sighed when she saw the white-haired teen start to silently crack up, smothering his laughter into the arm of his uniform jacket. "I'm sorry," he laughed, his words muffled, "but the look on your face..."

"Idiot," she spat, but she had to admit that there was something at least a little funny about the spoon bouncing off of her nose. Her expression gradually relaxed into a small smile, and she exhaled softly, reaching up to smooth back the mess of curls that had spilled into her face. "Thanks," she said, quietly, not wanting to look at him. "You really don't have to do this."

"Rio-san told me to keep an eye on you, so that's what I'm going to do. Besides, I couldn't leave you alone right now. It's pretty obvious you're upset." He leaned forward in his chair, reaching for the spoon that had landed on the table. "If I had to guess, Mitzi... your parents are probably more frustrated with the situation than what you did or didn't do. If what Wataya-san said about the Blade Children is true, they've been trying to protect you from learning the truth, and it was for your own good. So someone really was trying to start trouble by leaving these notes."

"What is there to protect me from?" She raised her eyes. "It must be something terrible..."

He shrugged, returning to spinning the spoon around between his fingers. "It's useless to speculate. It could be something really simple, or... well, it's probably not that bad." He cleared his throat, and Mitsuko couldn't help but chuckle at his attempt to stay positive. "I'm sure this whole thing will be over with in no time. They'll tell us what we need to know, we'll tell them about the postcards, and then we'll all figure out who was leaving you those notes and why."

"A happy ending, huh..."

"I prefer to be an optimist about these things." He stopped spinning the utensil for a moment, looking across the table at her and smiling. "I think it's a defense mechanism I developed while growing up in a house with the two most negative people in the universe."

"Your father isn't that bad..."

"I guess not. He has his good days and bad days. Kirie, though..." He rolled his eyes. "It's a lot better since she stopped working with the police department, but it's like she doesn't have an "off" switch. Every little thing sends her flying off the handle. I have no idea what my dad sees in her."

Mitsuko opened her mouth to reply, but the man she'd seen behind the ice cream counter suddenly appeared at their table, a tray in one hand. He placed a tall parfait glass between the teenagers, and Lacuna grinned up at him, nodding in lieu of a bow. "_Merci bien, monsieur_," he addressed the man in French.

"_Je t'en prie_," he replied, with a grin; then, almost thoughtfully, added to the end of his statement: "... Lacuna-kun."

"Ehhh? _Tu te souviens de moi_?"

"_Bien sur_." Before Mitsuko became too lost, the man switched to Japanese, which he spoke with a heavy accent. "You have grown very tall in the last few years. It must be the healthy French blood in your veins."

"Must be." The white-haired teen laughed, shaking his head. "Thanks."

The man nodded and winked before turning away from their table, moving back in the direction of the counter as the door to the shop opened with a loud jangle of the attached bell. A group of girls came in - all from a different high school, Mitsuko noticed, judging by their uniforms - and he greeted them all with a loud "welcome!", a big smile on his mustached face. "Like I said," Lacuna began, laughing again, "I used to come here a lot. My dad would take me here after sessions with my language tutor. It was a total coincidence that the owner spoke my native tongue. I remember how pissed Kirie got when she found out I was spending hours learning English and Japanese, only to go back to speaking French for twenty minutes with that guy..."

The brunette was staring at the parfait glass that had been placed between them, stuffed full of vanilla ice cream, strawberries, and thick pieces of what appeared to be shortcake. "Was it really necessary to get something so big?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"We'll share it." He handed her the spoon that had been resting on his side of the table (the one that hadn't been used as a projectile). "I thought I remembered something about strawberry shortcake being your favorite dessert, so..."

She blinked at him, felt a flush of heat rise suddenly into her cheeks, and looked sharply away. "You remember _everything_, don't you?"

"Only when it matters."

"Lakkun..." She sighed, shaking her head, but he was right: although she normally disliked sweets, strawberry shortcake was one of her favorite foods, and had always been a guilty pleasure - especially when it accompanied ice cream. She didn't want to give him any more credit than she already had, but there was a certain charm that went along with him remembering something like that. "Alright," she conceded, and lifted her spoon to dig into the glass, "I'll admit it... you did a good thing, this time."

He grinned. "Do you forgive me yet?"

"Never," she answered, matter-of-factly, and smiled at him over the top of the strawberry perched on her spoon. "But thanks for trying."

* * *

><p>Although Mitsuko had been certain that she would be called back home after an hour or two, she was proven wrong. After sitting in the ice cream parlor for most of an hour, trading casual conversation over the parfait they shared, she and Lacuna had both tried to call their parents - but there was no answer this time, and Ayumu's phone had gone straight to voicemail without a single ring. The brunette had hung up without leaving a message, unnerved, but her companion had stayed positive, rattling off a cheerful message for Kirie that said he would take Mitsuko back to the Rutherford house and stay with her there until he heard something. The pair had then left and walked slowly to their destination, where they'd - as expected - found the spacious home quiet and empty.<p>

Mitsuko had been able to tell right away that Lacuna's goal was to keep her preoccupied. Upon arriving, they'd taken up seats at the dining room table and worked on their homework together, completing all of their weekend assignments over the course of an hour. After that he'd brought up a video game he thought she would like, and they'd gone up to his bedroom to play it - although it was a puzzle game and hadn't been much of a challenge for the brunette, who grew bored after a handful of victories over her pouting her friend. After that they'd gone back downstairs, and Lacuna had taken her into the large living room where Eyes Rutherford kept his piano, a pure white grand piano with polished gold pedals that was tuned twice monthly. Though she'd felt both guilty and mischievous for touching it, Mitsuko had only ever practiced on a well-worn wooden upright model, so she had taken advantage of her opportunity to play a series of classical pieces while Lacuna listened. The sound quality had been excellent, but she felt distracted and out of practice; her playing of Bach sounded like a cheap imitation rather than a reproduction, and she eventually turned away, annoyed. Lacuna had then tried to call his father and Kirie again, with no avail, and had shaken his head at her as he hung up. "They're busy, I guess," he had remarked, shrugging. "I'll try again later..."

But later came, and by eight o'clock - almost five hours after Mitsuko had left her house - there was still no word from anyone. It had grown dark outside, and the two teens had already finished dinner, a quick meal of broiled meat and potatoes that they had worked together to prepare. Lacuna had expressed some joy at this kind of domestic event - "it's like we're a married couple!" - and Mitsuko had promptly thrown the potato peeler into his hair. They'd eaten slowly, at the end of the long table, boxing up the leftovers in case Eyes, Kirie, or Rio suddenly re-appeared. After that they'd gone back to Lacuna's room, and...

Mitsuko sighed. The wait was making her irritated, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she started lashing out at her friend - and in a serious way this time, not as a joke. She'd paced his bedroom for a while, then had simply flopped down on his bed, stretching out and staring up at the ceiling. He had eventually picked up an acoustic guitar, settling down on the edge of the futon and strumming out a few chords before launching into full songs. She recognized them, much to her surprise: the first was a pop hit currently being used as the theme song to a television drama that her mother watched, and the second was an American tune that had gained notoriety in Japan a few years before. As he moved to the third - another current pop song - he began to hum along, probably without realizing he was doing so, and the sound brought an unexpected smile to the brunette's face. Music had always been a form of therapy for her, regardless of the source, and the sound of his guitar was somehow almost soothing. She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply, listening to him play for several minutes before she thought of something to say. "Why did you choose the guitar?" she asked, quietly.

"I liked the way it sounded," he answered, immediately, his deep voice melodic. "The piano is too one-dimensional. Even if you play different music, it always sounds like the piano. The guitar can change its sound based on the instrument. An acoustic guitar can be soulful, and an electric guitar can be serious or wild. And bass guitars are subdued, but also extremely important to the way a song develops."

"Hmm..." She opened one eye, looking down at him. He continued to play, not stopping even as he spoke, his attention on his fingers. "Isn't it hard to play, though?"

"No harder than the piano." He grinned. "Although you'd have to improve your coordination to be any good at it."

"Funny." She slowly sat, watching him. He abruptly stopped playing his current song, lifted his eyes to the ceiling as if he was thinking, and then began to softly strum the strings at a much more leisurely pace. Mitsuko frowned slightly, listening, and there was a long moment until she realized what he was doing. "Are you really playing Liszt on the guitar?" she asked.

"_Liebestraume_ No. 3," he said, a smile tugging on one corner of his mouth. "I got tired of playing this on the piano, so I switched."

"My father plays that all the time," she murmured, listening - and then she had to turn her head away to hide the sting of tears that rose immediately into her eyes. Lacuna apparently realized something was wrong: he stopped playing, and there was a soft thump as he placed his guitar on the floor, followed by a soft creak as he climbed onto the bed. "I'm fine," she said, squeezing her eyes shut, "seriously, don't freak out, it's just - "

"It's just that every time your dad has come up this afternoon, you've reacted like this." She felt the futon shift as he settled down beside her. "He must have said something really upsetting to you..."

"He didn't really say anything." Her voice trembled. "He just looked... so angry with me..."

"It'll be okay, Mitzi." One of his arms slid around her shoulders and pulled her close, and she didn't bother resisting, leaning in to rest her head on his shoulder. "We'll get this all figured out. I promise. Please don't cry..."

"I'm trying not to," she snapped, but there was no venom behind her words. She buried her face in his neck, fighting hard to keep the tears from starting again, not wanting to embarrass herself by crying twice in the same day. Crying made her feel as if she had lost control of herself - and that was not what she needed. But it was so hard to be calm and composed when the only thing she could see behind her eyes was the image of her father's furious expression, dark and dangerous. As she willed herself not to cry, she felt Lacuna's other arm circle her back, and as he hugged her tight, she let out a shaky breath. "I'm sorry," she murmured.

"Don't apologize. I just wish I could do more." He swore under his breath. "If my dad would just answer his phone and tell me what is going on..."

"Something has to be wrong." She opened her eyes, drawing back enough so that she could see his face. "What if someone - "

"I don't think we're dealing with something like that. Rio-san told me that they would be talking for a while." His blue eyes settled on hers, and his expression was blank for a moment until he smiled - but the expression was forced, and Mitsuko could see that he was worried, too. "I'm beginning to think you might be here for the night," he murmured. "It's getting pretty late."

"Like a sleepover, huh..." She laughed quietly. "Wouldn't your foreign love interest be jealous of me right now?"

He hesitated before responding, his gaze shifting away from hers. "... for such a smart girl, you sure can be pretty dumb sometimes, Mitsuko."

"Eh?" She blinked at him, caught off guard, her surprise slowly turning to anger. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"We'll talk about it some other time." He sighed heavily, leaning over to rest his cheek on the top of her head. "Why is it that you're not beating the crap out of me for doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"You know..." He sounded uncomfortable. "Hugging you."

She snorted. "You're trying to comfort me, aren't you? Sometimes I need a hug just like everyone else. You just happen to be the closest one to me right now. If it was Mai-chan here, she'd be doing the same thing. ... well, maybe not after this morning..."

"But..."

"Despite what you may believe, Lacuna, I am not a cold, unfeeling person with no interest in human contact." As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them - and the anger behind them - and she lifted her head to look up at him and apologize... but there was a soft smile on his mouth, and his blue eyes were bright. She stared up at him with parted lips, unsure, and when he didn't speak, she felt the need to say something... anything. "I... I'm just stressed right now..."

"And tired, I think." He lifted one hand to gently poke her in the cheek. "You've got some pretty dark circles under your eyes."

"Mm..."

"Lie down for a bit," he said, pulling his arms away from her shoulders. She gave him a skeptical look, but obeyed, sliding from a sitting position to lie flat on his futon. He jumped off of his bed and retrieved his guitar from its resting spot on the floor, then hopped back onto the bed, positioning himself to one side of where she lay. "Close your eyes," he commanded, "and try to relax. If you fall asleep, I'll wake you up when I hear from my dad."

"I'm not going to be able to sleep right now," she protested, but followed suit anyway, placing her head on one of his pillows and closing her eyes. He started to play a song, something soft and subdued, and not one that she recognized... and after a few minutes she had easily drifted off to sleep, her restless and troubled mind finally quieted.

* * *

><p>When she started awake hours later, it was only because she heard voices. Mitsuko lifted her head, attempting to make sense of what had happened, and in the darkness it took her several seconds to remember where she was and why. The clock on Lacuna's nightstand revealed that it was close to two in the morning, and as she blinked at it, sleepily, she heard the sound of light snoring behind her. She slowly raised her upper body, looking over her shoulder, and saw Lacuna sprawled out on the other side of his bed, sleeping soundly. He still wore his Tsukiomi uniform - as did she - and his guitar was sitting at the end of the bed, its neck only a few inches from his feet. She stared at him blankly for a moment, unsure what to think about this... but then she felt herself smile, unable to help herself. "Idiot," she said, quietly, shaking her head. "I wasn't the only tired one - "<p>

The sudden sound of footsteps outside the open door of Lacuna's room stopped her from finishing her thought. She turned and looked to the doorway, and in the hallway, where a light had been switched on, the figure of Tsuchiya Kirie appeared. The pink-haired woman looked into the dark room and saw Mitsuko immediately, and before the brunette could decide how to react, Kirie spoke. "So here you are," she mused, softly. "I should have figured Prince Charming would hide you away in his bed."

Mitsuko's face flushed. "I - this - wasn't on purpose - "

"Hush. Don't wake the boy." Kirie motioned with one hand, gesturing for Mitsuko to join her in the doorway, and the brunette reluctantly slid off of the futon and walked carefully to where the pink-haired woman stood. "Here," she said, handing the brunette a canvas bag - one that Mitsuko immediately recognized as one of her own - that felt as if it had been packed with clothes and toiletries. "It's too late for you to be out walking the streets by yourself, and I'm in no mood to shuttle you back home. So your mother asked that you stay overnight."

"Oh..." The teenager swallowed, hard. "Thank you, Kirie-san."

"Don't mention it." Kirie's blue eyes had moved to rest on Lacuna's sleeping figure, and after a moment she looked back to Mitsuko, cocking her head to one side. "You two stayed out of trouble tonight, right?"

"Ki - Ki - _Kirie-san_!"

"I didn't mean _that_," she responded, sounding amused, and she rolled her eyes at the mortified girl in front of her. "But that's good to know. We had a lot of talking to do, and your mother was pretty worried about you two. But Lacuna's voicemail gave her some comfort for a while." She leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms. "We're going to be meeting here tomorrow - all of us - to talk about those postcards. So you should get some rest."

Mitsuko bit her lip. "I know you won't believe me, but I didn't know that the postcards would lead to all this - "

"On the contrary, little one." The pink haired woman reached out to gently pat her on one shoulder, once, before lifting her hand and returning her arms to a position folded across her chest. The teenager felt her face flush slightly: Kirie hadn't called her "little one" in years, and although she'd always seen the older woman as distant and perhaps a little terrifying, that pet name had been the only thing symbolizing any sort of relationship between the two. "I believe you," Kirie continued, "without a doubt. If you'd known what those messages meant, you would have never gone sticking your nose into places where they didn't belong."

Those words made the brunette wince. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't fret about it now. Try to get some rest." With that, Kirie turned to leave - but then she stopped, suddenly, looking over her shoulder at Mitsuko. "I don't care so much where you sleep for the rest of the night - but don't expect me to keep silent about it to your parents, if they ask me about it."

"_Kirie-san_!"

"Good night," the woman said simply, raising one hand in a casual wave before she slid the bedroom door shut and cast the room into darkness. Mitsuko stood at the door for a moment, her face hot, unsure what to do. It was a long time before she made up her mind, carefully walking back to Lacuna's bed, leaning her bag against his nightstand, and sliding back onto the edge of the mattress. He stirred but didn't wake, and the brunette lay her head beside his on a pillow, watching him sleep for a long while, her mind too wild with thoughts and speculation to allow her to rest again until the sun was on its way to rising in the early morning sky.


	9. doors unlocked and open

**author's note:** I am not happy with this chapter. Although it's a necessary evil and a huge turning point for the characters, it's long and unwieldy and I've been sitting on it for days without making any progress on getting it edited into a form that I like. So in the interest of advancing the story and not keeping my two dedicated readers waiting for too long (lol) _or _slowly driving myself mad, I'm just putting it up and moving on.

Criticism and suggestions would be _amazing_. Also - if there are any factual errors in my explanations in this chapter, please do point them out. This whole thing is one giant spoiler for the Spiral manga in the end.

Aaaand away we go!

* * *

><p>When Mitsuko woke again, the clock on Lacuna's bedside table read just past nine in the morning. The brunette lay sleepily in place for several minutes before she felt compelled to move from her spot on the edge of the bed she currently occupied. She didn't want to get up, but she knew that she had to: Kirie had said something about everyone meeting at the Rutherford house to discuss the postcards. The last thing she wanted was to attend that meeting still wearing her rumpled Tsukiomi uniform with her hair hanging against her back in a tangled, unwashed mess.<p>

She quietly slid off of the futon and bent to retrieve the bag Kirie had delivered from the floor, pausing to look back at Lacuna - only to realize that he was gone. Thought she was normally a light sleeper, she hadn't heard him rise or leave the room. She paused for a moment, her eyes fixed on the empty spot he had occupied, before she straightened and moved in the direction of the door that led to the bathroom attached to Lacuna's bedroom. She had things to do - there was no time to dwell on the evening before.

In the bag her mother had sent, she found everything she needed: shampoo, a comb, clothing, shoes, and various other toiletries. She drew a bath and undressed, tossing her wrinkled uniform carelessly aside and tying up her hair before sinking into the hot water. She sat in the bathtub for a long time, her head tilted back and her eyes closed, trying her hardest to relax and clear her mind. After a while she rose from the bath and began the process of scrubbing herself clean - she was unaccustomed to skipping her usual nightly soak in the tub - and washing her hair before she returned for another short soak. She fought to keep herself from thinking too hard, but it was impossible, and when she opened the drain and rose to reach for a towel, she scoffed aloud at herself. "No matter how I try to prepare myself, this day is going to be bad," she said aloud, her voice echoing in the small room.

She toweled herself dry and dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, eying her wet and messy hair in a mirror before shrugging and parting it into two low pigtails she tied at the tops of her shoulders, not wanting to bother with a hairdryer. After dressing, she packed her belongings back into her bag and placed it again on the side of Lacuna's bed. She moved to the closed bedroom door and stood there for a moment, taking in a few deep breaths, before she dared to step out into the hallway and in the direction of the stairs to the first floor.

When she reached the first floor landing, she hesitantly took a few steps towards the dining area, and was relieved to see Lacuna seated alone at the end of the long table, cell phone in one hand and chopsticks in the other, a half-eaten plate of eggs and white rice in front of him. Mitsuko was halfway into the room before he looked up from his phone, blue eyes widening with surprise. "Mitzi!" he exclaimed, abruptly putting down his phone. "I - hi - "

"Good morning." She saw he was turning red and smirked, pulling out one of the chairs at the table and taking a seat beside him. "What's with that face?"

He laughed nervously, clicking his chopsticks together. "I probably don't need to tell you this, but I didn't plan on falling asleep where I did last night..."

"You didn't?" He squirmed under her gaze and she let him for a moment, then giggled, amused, shaking her head. "I know that, stupid. I could have moved, too."

"Yeah..." For a moment he seemed distracted, almost embarrassed, but then his face brightened and he started to rise, placing his chopsticks on the edge of his plate. "Do you want an omelette? I think my dad made extra. He said he heard the water running upstairs a little while ago, so we figured you'd be coming down soon."

"Sure." She followed him out of the dining room and into the kitchen, and at the sight of Lacuna's father standing by the stove, the brunette's boldness immediately turned to something like fear. Of all the adults in her life, Eyes Rutherford was the most distant from her; he was a man of medium height with a slim build, squarish silver glasses over ice blue eyes, and pale hair that seemed to shine lavender in the light. There was certainly a resemblance between Eyes and his son, but Lacuna stood nearly half a foot taller than his father, and his build and facial features hinted at the influence of a mother whose figure had been far less severe. As they approached, Eyes turned from the counter he had been wiping down, noticing them, and the brunette immediately bowed deeply in greeting. "Thank you very much for your kindness, Rutherford-san," she said, hoping her voice wouldn't crack. "I'm sorry to trouble you with my presence so early in the morning - "

"It's nothing." He cut her off easily, his voice soft - he always spoke evenly, usually quietly, never with anger - and nodded up at his son. "I trust Lacuna kept a watchful eye over you while we were... preoccupied, yesterday?"

"Y - yes." She straightened, clasping her hands together. "I also... I should apologize for that, because it was my fault..."

"In another scenario, that might have been the correct assumption to make." His eyes narrowed. "However, in this case... it seems you were an unfortunate victim of circumstance."

Lacuna cleared his throat, evidently uncomfortable with his father's words. "We're going to be going over all that stuff later, right?"

"Correct." His father turned away, reaching to uncover a pan that sat on top of the stove. "Would you like breakfast, Mitsuko?"

She started at hearing the sound of her name: the last time she'd heard him say it had been the afternoon before, as a preface to his request that she leave the Narumi house. "I am a little hungry..." she admitted, reluctantly. "But I don't want to trouble you..."

"Hey, you're not troubling anybody. My dad's a great cook." Lacuna reached past his father to open a cabinet on the wall, retrieving a plate that he passed to Eyes, who was using a nearby spatula to lift an omelette out of the still-hot pan. "Eat up, okay?" he said, smiling as the plate was given to her with a pair of chopsticks. "I don't want to hear your stomach growling later."

She managed a smile. "Thank you."

Eyes nodded, silently, turning back to cover the pan again. Lacuna started back in the direction of the dining area and Mitsuko followed, both teens re-seating themselves at the end of the table. As Mitsuko was uttering her quiet thanks for the food, there was a low buzz, and she glanced over to see her friend immediately drop his chopsticks and grab his phone. "What's going on?" she asked, one eyebrow lifted.

"Nothing," he answered, quickly, tapping out something on his on-screen keyboard. "Just talking to Mai."

"Oh." She started to eat, keeping one eye on him, and after her second bite of egg the phone buzzed again and the teenager's face almost immediately turned red. He placed the phone down on the table and quickly grabbed his utensils, staring down at his plate as he practically shoveled food into his mouth. Mitsuko chewed slowly, watching him, wondering what was making him so flustered. "What's she saying?" she asked, swallowing.

"I made the mistake of telling her you stayed over last night," he answered, nervously. "And you know how her imagination is..."

"... what?"

"I don't want to talk about it..."

She groaned, smacking her forehead with the back of her hand. "Does _everyone_ think we're hooking up in secret?"

His eyes went wide. "Mi - Mitsuko!"

"That wasn't the right way to say that. Never mind." She poked at her food, letting out a sigh. "More importantly... is she coming here today? Last night, Kirie said something about "everyone" being here to talk about the postcards..."

"Oh... yeah." The flush had finally faded from Lacuna's face, and he swallowed, frowning slightly. "That's what my dad told me, too. When I got up, he said that your parents and Mai's would both be here around lunchtime. So I guess Mai is coming along, too."

"Did he seem upset?"

"It's hard to tell." He tilted his head to one side. "But I saw my aunt for a few minutes and she was pretty cheerful. And Kirie was... well, Kirie. Annoyed at everything until she has coffee and a cigarette."

Mitsuko chuckled, covering her mouth with one hand as she chewed on a bite of omelette. "I'm not much of a morning person either. So I can sympathize, to some extent."

"Hmm." The white-haired teen turned his eyes on her, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. "Whatever happens," he said after a moment, "I don't want you to feel like any of this is your fault. If our parents are planning on telling us the truth about the Blade Children - and the rest of the postcards - then I feel even more certain like someone was trying to stir up trouble. You couldn't have known that it would lead to all of this."

"You don't need to reassure me so much, Lacuna." She bowed her head. "I have to accept responsibility. You can't protect me from taking the blame."

"But - "

"It's fine." Her voice cracked as those words escaped, and she poked again at her plate of food, listlessly. "I just want to get this over with. That's all."

"It's useless to argue with you," he murmured, and they left it at that. They ate the remains of their breakfast in silence, and when Lacuna's phone buzzed again it was ignored, left to make noise on the table without receiving any attention.

* * *

><p>At eleven sharp, the doorbell at the front of the Rutherford house rang. Lacuna and Mitsuko were seated in the living room, watching television from separate ends of a long white couch, and at this sound they immediately exchanged nervous glances. The brunette heard the sound of light footsteps running from the kitchen in the direction of the front room - Takeuchi Rio's footsteps, she thought - followed by the creak of a door opening and immediate cheerful greetings. "Mai-chan, you've gotten so<em> tall<em>!" she heard clearly - yes, it was definitely Rio - followed by a low murmur of a girl's voice, then Asazuki Kousuke's boisterous laughter. "I did _not_ tell her to say that!" Mitsuko heard him shout.

"Well," Lacuna said, softly, switching off the television with the remote in his hand, "I guess we know who's here."

Mitsuko swallowed. "Yeah."

"Where do you think your parents are?"

"Who knows?" She shrugged, turning her head away. "They'll get here soon, I'm sure."

His voice was strained. "Mitzi..."

"Yo." Mai suddenly appeared in the doorway of the living room, dressed in a black and white striped sweater with ripped jeans, her short hair now sporting a bright blue stripe in the front. "What's with the sudden silence?" she asked, her question directed at Lacuna. "I sent you like five messages and you didn't bother responding. Did you guys get busy again or what?"

He sighed. "Mai..."

Mitsuko snorted, crossing her legs and leaning forward to look at the younger girl more closely. "What's with the hair?"

"Oh, you know. I get bored when I'm on house arrest." Mai saunted over to the couch and plopped down in the middle, an equal distance away from both Lacuna and Mitsuko. "My parents went out somewhere last night 'till like two in the morning. I was gonna sneak out, but my dad seemed pretty upset as it was, so I didn't bother." She folded her legs up beneath her, rolling her green eyes dramatically. "So then they told me I had to come here this morning for some big important thing..."

"They're going to tell us about the postcards."

"Really?" Her eyes snapped to Mitsuko. "I didn't know that."

"That's what Kirie said, anyway." The brunette nodded. "Everyone was at my house last night. But I wasn't allowed to go home. So they must have been talking about the postcards for a really long time." She paused, giving her friend a hard look. "_That's_ why I stayed here, by the way. So don't get any stupid ideas."

Lacuna's voice was quiet, but still easily heard by both girls. "Too late for that..."

"Psh, whatever. If it doesn't happen now, it'll happen eventually." Mai waved a hand casually at Mitsuko. "Like I said the other day. You two are already inseparable. It doesn't take a genius to see where this is going to go."

The doorbell rang again before either Mitsuko or Lacuna could respond. All three teens were silent, looking in the direction of the front of the house. Mitsuko felt a lump form in her throat, and she swallowed, hard, lifting a hand to nervously twirl the bottom of one long pigtail. She heard the sound of the door opening again, followed by a faint voice that sounded like her mother's, and her gaze involuntarily caught Lacuna's. He gave her a slight smile before rising from the couch, starting out of the living room. She quickly stood and followed him, and behind her she heard Mai give a loud sigh as she also slid off of the furniture. All three teens proceeded into the front hallway and immediately found it rather cramped: Kousuke and Ryouko stood with Rio, the gray-haired woman talking rapidly, and Ayumu and Hiyono were just coming in, having removed their shoes in the front room. At the appearance of the teenagers, all conversation ceased, and there was an uncomfortable moment before Hiyono hurried past everyone and swept her daughter up in a tight hug. "Mitsuko," she gasped, burying her face in her daughter's hair, "I'm so sorry about yesterday..."

"It's okay," the brunette murmured, and felt both embarrassed and comforted. She lifted a hand to pat her mother on the back, letting out her breath. "I'm fine."

Hiyono sounded as if she was near tears. "I was so worried about you..."

"You worry about everything." Ayumu had walked forward to join his wife and daughter, and Mitsuko turned her eyes up to him, suddenly fearful. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Lacuna bristle, one of his hands reaching out to rest lightly on her back, but his protectiveness was unwarranted. The dark-haired man shook his head, chuckling, apparently noticing the teenager's reaction. "I'm sorry for yesterday. It wasn't my intention to act the way that I did. But I was... concerned... about what may have been happening without my knowledge."

"We all were." Rio spoke up, her voice light and sweet. "There are many things that we wished to keep buried in the past. But now that someone has been making an effort to unearth them, it has become necessary to intervene."

"The last thing we want is for any of you to get hurt." Ayumu gently pulled his wife away from the hug that was practically crushing Mitsuko by now, smiling a bit at the sight of his wife's brown eyes filled with tears. "So that's why we're all here."

"Well put." At the sound of Tsuchiya Kirie's voice, the occupants of the hallway all turned to see the pink-haired woman standing at the other end, Eyes Rutherford by her side. She glanced up at her companion as if she was confirming something with him, folding her arms loosely in front of her waist before speaking again. "It looks like everyone is here. Everything is ready."

"Kiyotaka-san won't be joining us?"

"No," Kirie responded to Rio's query, her expression darkening somewhat. "Do you think I'd be able to get through this without beating him senseless? That bastard would only derail me - "

Ayumu cleared his throat, abruptly, and Mitsuko saw him give a sharp nod in her direction. She lifted an eyebrow but said nothing, simply making a note to ask later why Kirie had called her uncle a name like that... although she could probably guess. At this Eyes intervened, his gaze settling first on Kirie before it shifted to the others. "Please come in," he said, gesturing to the room behind them. "There should be room for everyone."

There were, as it turned out, exactly enough seats at the dining room table to accommodate all ten people in attendance. Kirie sat at one end, with Eyes to her right, Lacuna beside him, followed by Mitsuko and Hiyono. Ayumu sat at the other end, with Rio to his right, followed by Ryouko, Mai, and Kousuke at Eyes's left. Mai seemed annoyed at being made to sit between her parents, but she didn't complain out loud, only expressing her dissatisfaction with several well-timed facial expressions sent across the table to Lacuna. As everyone was seated, Mitsuko noticed a closed manila folder in front of Kirie - one that she assumed held her postcards, or perhaps other necessary materials. She fidgeted in her seat, nervous, feeling her heart begin to beat a little faster. They were about to find out what the real meaning behind those messages were...

"Well." Kirie spoke from her seat at one end of the table, looking to Eyes before she continued. "Mitsuko-chan, Mai-chan, and Lacuna... I want to warn the three of you now that what you hear during this meeting is going to be unpleasant. It will change all three of your lives, and not in a good way." She paused, perhaps to allow those words to sink in; Mitsuko exchanged glances with both of her friends, but none of them seemed very surprised. "Also," Kirie went on, "everything spoken inside of this room is confidential. Under no circumstances are you to repeat any of this to anyone." She twined her hands together, her blue eyes settling on each teenager in turn. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," they chorused, with Mitsuko adding a faint "Kirie-san."

"Good." She looked to Eyes again, who nodded, slowly. "I'm going to tell you a story. It won't answer any of your questions, at first, but over time things will become clear. Please don't interrupt unless you find it absolutely necessary." She hesitated, glancing over at Hiyono, who was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. "And if anyone needs to leave the room - "

"It will be fine, Tsuchiya-san." The blonde woman immediately brightened, smiling over at Kirie. "At some point I'll run out of tears. It's just my hormones..." She gestured at her full midsection. "It's hard to control..."

Ryouko snorted. "I remember that."

"Yeah, right." Kousuke shot his wife a hurt look. "Being pregnant made you violent, not teary-eyed."

The brunette's expression was deadpan. "I cried _after_ I kicked you around."

"So did I!"

"If we could please get back on topic..." Kirie made a face, leaning forward to look at Mai's parents - then at Rio, who had started to giggle. The conversation quieted instantly, and the pink-haired woman seemed satisfied, clearing her throat. There was silence in the dining room for almost a minute, and when Kirie finally spoke again, her voice was low and serious. "Once upon a time," she began, "a long time ago, there was a god and a devil."

"What is this, a fairy tale?"

"Mai." Kousuke immediately turned his head to his daughter, his face stern. "I know this sounds unrealistic, but it's important."

"Fine..." She leaned back in her chair, folding her skinny arms across her chest. "Sorry."

"As I was saying." Kirie tossed her hair over one shoulder. "There was a god and a devil. As you kids should already know, the figure of "God" is a creator, and the "Devil" is a destroyer. What one creates, the other destroys. However, in this story, the devil was the creator." She paused, looking at each of the three teenagers in turn before beginning again. "The devil's name was Mizushiro Yaiba."

Mitsuko sat up straight in her chair, feeling as if she'd been shocked. "Papa," she said, turning to look into her father's eyes, "that's the same name - "

"Yes," Ayumu said, gently, nodding, "the same as Hizumi."

"You told her about Hizumi? Great..." Kirie looked annoyed. "That complicates things. I was hoping to leave that brat out of this."

"Kirie." Eyes spoke up from her side, his voice even. "Please go on."

"Yes, fine..." She ignored the curious glances that Lacuna and Mai were sending both her and Mitsuko, clearing her throat. "Mizushiro Yaiba was a regular person, or so he seemed on the surface. Don't misunderstand what I mean when I say "devil," because there was nothing supernatural involved. He was born to a normal mother and father." She leaned forward in her seat. "However, he was a man of extremely - almost abnormally - high intelligence, and had a magnetic personality. Because he was brilliant, and so attractive to others, he was a natural leader and was loved by many. During his adulthood, he was able to gather many people who supported him faithfully, both financially and in their thoughts or actions."

"So why would someone call him a devil?"

"His actions," the pink-haired woman answered Lacuna, "made him a devil. Yaiba became bored, and in his boredom, stated that he was dissatisfied with the state of society in Japan. As time went on, he believed that a widespread change needed to take place. He also felt that he should be the catalyst for this change. His intent was to introduce intelligent, highly skilled children into society. This children would produce above-average children of their own, who would produce their own... and so on." Her expression hardened. "It was a plan to purify society, essentially."

"But how could he possibly ensure that the children would be as smart as him?" the white-haired teen asked, lifting one eyebrow. "Even if he were to contribute his DNA... IQ isn't necessarily inherited, is it?"

"Yaiba selected intelligent carriers," Eyes answered, glancing at his son. "His plan was to gather highly gifted women to act as carriers for his children. He would gather them, test their aptitude, evaluate their health and viability for carrying a child... and then, if they passed his tests, implant his DNA in them."

Mai visibly shuddered. "That sounds... cold..."

"It was. And that was why there were those who opposed Yaiba's plan." Kirie continued the story, her voice level. "However, he proceeded without restrictions. Because of his charismatic nature, and the skills he posssessed, some women found the thought of carrying his DNA desirable. There were also many similarly talented women - or even couples - who believed in his cause. Whatever the reason, Yaiba was able to quickly gather a total of eighty women able and willing to bear the first generation of his children."

"So this actually happened?"

"Yes. Over the course of a year, eighty children were born to carriers of Mizushiro Yaiba's DNA. These children were initially genetically engineered in test tubes... and then implanted in their carriers. It _was_ a very cold process." She sighed. "When the children were born, the initial assessments were that they were very nearly perfect. All of the children consistently scored high on basic IQ tests, and also began reading, writing, and speaking fluently at early ages. This was much how Yaiba was during his childhood." There was a pause before Kirie continued. "However, things were unfortunately not as perfect as they appeared on the surface."

Mitsuko had to swallow hard to rid her throat of a growing lump. "What does that mean?" she asked, hesitantly.

"A few of the children became violent. As early as age seven, they showed the capacity to hurt, or even kill, other children... and adults." Mitsuko felt her eyes grow wide, and similar looks of shock appeared on the faces of the other two teenagers in the room. Kirie's own expression was grim, and beside her, Eyes was cringing slightly. "Others demonstrated a hatred of society, or a desire to eradicate "normal" people. It was if the least desirable elements of Yaiba's personality had been passed along to some of the children." She took a breath. "The children who presented a threat - and those who may have tried to protect them - were killed."

Lacuna started, leaning forward in his chair. "Killed?"

"Yes. Some felt that there was no choice but to eliminate these children." She frowned, reaching for the folder that lay on the table in front of her. "Around this time, Mizushiro Yaiba's union fell into disarray. Although there were initially plans for second and third generations of children, again using Yaiba's DNA, these plans were cancelled. Additionally, some who had protested the first project began to speak up." She paused again, glancing to Eyes, then Kousuke and Ryouko. "These people stated that Yaiba, at around age twenty, had changed. It was around this age that he had seemed to "awaken" as the individual who spoke of improving society, or raising the collective intelligence of Japan. It also came to light, through these people, that Yaiba, or some of his close followers, had quietly killed those who had initially openly opposed his plans. Before this time, there had been no indication that he had any intent to harm or kill anyone, for any reason. It was if, at age twenty, a "switch" had been flipped that changed him into an entirely different person - a man with good intent, perhaps, but murderous actions." Her voice rose. "And _that_ is why he was called a devil."

Eyes began speaking, taking over for Kirie. "At this time, Yaiba's union dissolved into three separate factions. First, there were those who believed that the children posed no harm to anyone unless provoked, and that they could be prevented from experiencing the same "switch" that had manifested in their father - a "switch" that was expected to appear in the Blade Children at age twenty, causing them to be come "avatars" of Yaiba. These people, who felt the children could be saved, were called "Savers." Second, there were those who felt that the children should be removed from society, despite what they may or may have not have done, or what their intentions were. They declared that they would not stop their actions until all of the children had been... eliminated, so to speak. These people were called "Hunters.""

Kirie spoke up suddenly. "And those who did not immediately agree with either side, and opted instead to watch the situation as it developed, or act according to the actions of the children, were called "Watchers.""

"The Hunters killed many of the children before they reached their tenth birthday. Those who remained alive taught themselves to fight, to defend their lives against the Hunters." Eyes reached up to remove his glasses, a frown creasing his forehead. "By now, of course, the children knew what they were, and that their lives were in jeopardy. Their parents, if they remained alive, often abandoned them, or turned against them fearfully. Those who tried to protect their children were sometimes killed by Hunters." He paused, his eyes slowly closing, then opening again. "Eventually, less than thirty of Yaiba's children remained alive - and all of the women who had birthed them were dead."

"This is a gruesome story." Lacuna looked to his father. "What does it have to do with us?"

"A few weeks ago, one of you received a postcard, asking about something called "Blade Children."" Kirie shifted her gaze to Mitsuko as she opened the folder in her hands, and she lifted a familiar-looking piece of mail from within. "Isn't that right?"

The brunette shifted uncomfortably in her chair as all eyes fell on her. "Yes, but..." She folded her hands in her lap, looking down at them instead of at anyone at the table. "I didn't find anything concrete when I investigated. I thought at first that someone was playing a prank on me, but..."

Hiyono's voice was soft and slightly amused. "Because of the Newspaper Club?"

"Exactly." She lifted her head. "But then I heard things that other people had said, and - "

"It was no prank." Kirie interrupted the brunette, shaking her head from side to side. "Someone sent you that postcard, and the others, on purpose. They were urging you to look into this very story. If your mother hadn't found them when she had..."

"_You_ found them?" Mitsuko was afraid to look back at her parents, but when she did, she saw that neither one of them looked angry or upset. "I'm sorry," she began, involuntarily rushing her words, "I didn't mean to hide them, but things just happened so fast - "

"We know." Ayumu chuckled. "You can actually thank Wataya for all this. After you left your meeting with him yesterday morning, he called your aunt to tell her what happened. Once she got his message, she called me. Your mother was at home, and when I asked her to look, she found the postcards beneath your keyboard."

Mai scoffed, her eyebrows drawn together. "That old guy... I should have known he would tattle on us."

"It's good that he did. If it had gone on any longer, you two may have found yourself in more danger than you could handle." Ryouko directed this remark to her daughter, her ruby eyes narrowed. "We had no plans to ever tell you the details of this story... or anything about the Blade Children. But once we heard that someone was trying to dig up the past, and that Mitsuko was receiving those messages..."

Mitsuko gasped slightly, suddenly putting two and two together, but before she could speak, Mai cut in. "Blade Children," she began, tipping her chair forward again, "_that's_ what the kids in this story are called?"

"It makes sense." Lacuna sounded thoughtful. ""Blade," and "Yaiba"... they have the same meaning."

"Yes, that's right." Kirie turned the postcard over in her hands a few times. "So now that you know what the Blade Children are, the question becomes why someone would be urging you to investigate them."

"That isn't my next question. What happened to the remaining kids? Did they all die?" Mai leaned over on one elbow, sending a skeptical look in the pink-haired woman's direction. "And you said there was a god, too, not just this Yaiba guy. Aren't you going to finish your story?"

Wordless glances were exchanged between all of the adults in the room. Mitsuko watched this process in silence, suddenly feeling unsettled - feeling as if her entire world was about to tilt beneath her, revealing things she had never known about before this moment. It was her father who finally spoke, nodding once at Kirie. "Tell them."

"We really don't need to - "

"This has gone on long enough." It was Kousuke who spoke up now, although he stared at the table instead of making eye contact with anyone; Ryouko reached behind their daughter to lay a hand on his shoulder, her expression one of obvious concern. "We've all lived normally for a long time. But it's time for them to know the truth. If we didn't tell them..." He trailed off, then sighed heavily. "Well, somebody else would, right?"

Mai looked incredulously at her father. "What the hell all is this about?"

Kirie heaved a sigh of her own, rubbing her forehead. "Fine," she muttered. "But don't get mad at me if they get upset."

Rio's dark eyes were sad, but she spoke confidently, nodding at the older woman. "It's time..."

"Well, then." The pink-haired woman cleared her throat. "As I said before... there was a devil, and a god. In this story, the devil was the creator, and the god was the destroyer. As you already know, the devil was Mizushiro Yaiba, an extraordinary man who used his powers to create the Blade Children. However, the god was also an extraordinary man. Like Yaiba, he was extraordinarily gifted and charismatic - but instead of gathering supporters and making any attempt to change society, he used his powers to kill Mizushiro Yaiba."

Three gasps sounded around the table. "Kill?" Mitsuko asked. "Yaiba was killed?"

"Yes." Kirie's expression was grim. "When he was thirty-six, the "god" appeared and ended Mizushiro Yaiba's life without warning. This action sent Yaiba's society into complete turmoil. But that was what this man wanted." She placed the postcard that she had been holding back down on the table. "It may surprise you to learn that the name of this man was Narumi Kiyotaka."

The brunette felt all of the color drain from her face; she was suddenly faint, swaying slightly in her chair. "_Uncle_?" she gasped, and her voice was barely a whisper. "He killed..."

"No way..." Lacuna's eyes were wide; he looked down the table to Ayumu and Hiyono, shaking his head. "I don't know Kiyotaka-san very well, but how could he possibly have killed someone? Even if Yaiba was a terrible person..."

"I don't condone what my brother did. In fact, my reaction to being told this was very similar to yours. I felt the same kind of shock." Ayumu folded his hands together. "But he had a reason for taking these actions."

"Narumi Kiyotaka had a plan to return society to its normal state - essentially, to take things back to the way they were before the Blade Children, Hunters, Savers, and Watchers even existed." Kirie continued speaking, keeping her eyes on Mitsuko, who still felt faint. "Think of a chess game. The goal is to remove all of the players from the board. Over the course of a game, pawns are captured, moves are made, and eventually a queen is checked. When the game is finished, the board is empty. This was Kiyotaka's goal: to return the board to zero."

"So that started with killing the man responsible for creating the Blade Children in the first place." Mai seemed strangely unaffected by the tale of Narumi Kiyotaka's actions, leaning forward to make eye contact with Kirie. "Did he kill the Blade Children, too?"

"No." Kirie shook her head. "At that time, Narumi Kiyotaka was a well-respected member of society. He was someone that could quickly become the controller of the entire situation. He made it clear that he would eventually be killed, much like Yaiba, but that his actions - and the death that he had planned - were all simply part of his plan to return the board to zero. He was the queen who would eventually be checked and removed, ending the game. His plan and logic were both flawless, and even Yaiba's closest friends and strongest supporters even abided by it. Kiyotaka's plan hinged on one very important pawn." She suddenly smiled. "You see, the "god" had a little brother."

Lacuna and Mai looked sharply in Ayumu's direction; Mitsuko could only stare at her father, covering her mouth with one hand. "What?" she murmured. "What does that mean?"

"Kiyotaka's logic went like this," Kirie continued. "He had killed Mizushiro Yaiba. Much like the "god" in this story, the "devil" also had a little brother - a boy named Mizushiro Hizumi. Ayumu was to kill Hizumi, who would have killed many of the remaining Blade Children. Then Ayumu would kill Kiyotaka, as punishment for some other deplorable action..."

"And I was supposed to wither away and die in a hospital bed while the other Blade Children gave into their "curse" at age twenty and died or were killed." Ayumu chuckled. "However, I wasn't content with such a fate."

Lacuna blinked, looking for a moment to Mitsuko. He reached out to take one of her hands within his, giving it a soft squeeze, and although she found it comforting, it wasn't enough to calm her nerves entirely. What she was hearing was too much to handle - and she realized now why they had been warned, told this story would not be easy to hear. "So what happened?" the white-haired teen asked after a moment, shifting in his seat to better see Kirie at the end of the table. "It's obvious that things didn't go as planned..."

"Narumi Ayumu was a much stronger force than anyone - even Kiyotaka - expected." Kirie gave a wry smile as she spoke, turning her gaze from one teenager to another. "Instead of killing Hizumi, he befriended him, and offered him a chance to escape from Kiyotaka's plans. Also, although Kiyotaka used someone very close to Ayumu has a weapon, he refused to strike out at his brother. Finally, he stayed stubbornly alive through a degenerative disease long enough to complete experimental drug and surgery trials that saved his life."

Eyes spoke up now, sliding his glasses back onto his face. "To all those involved who interpreted Kiyotaka's plans as absolute fate, the actions of Narumi Ayumu were proof that this fate could be changed. He encouraged the Blade Children to defy the idea that they would die, be killed, or lost to an internal "curse." While some still lost their lives, a few survived. Much of this was thanks to Kiyotaka, who admitted defeat to his brother. He obeyed Ayumu's instructions and ensured that all three of Yaiba's unions were disbanded, all while protecting and observing the remaining children."

"So it sounds like there was a happy ending, obviously. Narumi-san's sitting right here with us." Mai cocked her head at Eyes. "But what happened to the Blade Children? That's all I wanna know. That, and why the hell I'm listening to this story."

Lacuna's voice was suddenly unsteady, and Mitsuko felt her hand tremble within his grasp. "I think I know why," he murmured.

The brunette looked up at him, confused. "Lakkun...?"

Eyes nodded at his son slowly, surely. "We did not feel the need to need to tell you this, prior to the present time," he said, "but all of us... and all of you... are intimately involved in these events."

"... otousan." The teenager's blue eyes had gone wide. "I wondered, as you were telling us, but this - you - you're one of..._ them_? One of the Blade Children?"

Mai's jaw dropped open. "No fucking way."

"I am." Eyes looked to Mai. "As are your parents. We are among the few survivors of the Blade Children project."

The room was silent for a moment. Mitsuko didn't know where to look, what to think, what to say, and was certain that her expression was just as shocked as Mai's - but no one else, not even Lacuna, looked surprised in the least. It was the white-haired teenager who broke the silence, looking across the table at Rio, his voice still unsteady. "Rio-san, too, then."

The gray-haired woman nodded. "Yes." She paused, then laughed softly despite the gravity of the situation. "As you may have guessed, what you were told about me being your father's half-sister wasn't a lie... I really am your aunt." She glanced over at Mai, whose gaze had become distant and unfocused, her mouth open and half-hidden behind one hand. "But I am Mai-chan's aunt, too. It just didn't make sense to complicate things further by saying so..."

Mitsuko suddenly turned her head sharply in the direction of her parents. "And - okaasan - "

"No." Hiyono smiled, shaking her head at her daughter. "I am not one of the Blade Children. However, I was the "precious person" that your uncle tried to use against your father. My involvement is another story entirely. But Ayumu and I really did meet in high school, and his illness was real."

The brunette felt her hands begin to shake, and although she was somewhat comforted at this declaration, the details that had been revealed to her were unnerving, almost terrifying. Lacuna twined his fingers through hers, giving her a concerned look, but he was still shaking as well, his expression one of mingled shock and sadness. The room was silent for a moment until he directed his attention to Kirie. "You couldn't possibly be one of them, could you?" he asked, his voice soft. "Aren't you..." He hesitated. "I mean... you're older than my dad, and you said all the Blade Children were born in a year's time..."

"Thank you _so_ much for pointing out my age." She snorted. "As I'm sure everyone at this table could tell you, I used to be the most annoying Watcher back in the day. That's why I know so much about all of this. Because I observed the entire situation from start to finish, I know more about the story of the Blade Children than almost anyone else."

"Ah..." He managed to chuckle, weakly. "That makes your relationship even more inappropriate, doesn't it?"

Her lip curled. "Shut up, brat."

Even Eyes smiled at that remark. "That sounds familiar."

"Stuff it. I haven't called you a brat since you turned twenty."

"Hey..."

At the sound of Mai's voice - usually brazen and loud, but this time quiet - all other conversation ceased. The black-haired girl was staring at the surface of the table, her gaze unfocused behind her pink glasses. "If my parents are Blade Children... that means I'm one of them too, doesn't it?"

It was Ryouko who replied, sounding saddened by the response she had to give. "Technically... yes. You and Lacuna both."

Lacuna's tone brightened somewhat. "Hey, Mai... that means we're cousins after all. It makes more sense, now, doesn't it?"

"Sense? It makes _sense_? How could you think _any_ of this makes sense?" The teenager suddenly snapped, lifting her head, her green eyes dark. "This isn't something to be happy about, Lakkun. Do you have any idea what this means? This means we're different. It means we can never be normal. It means my parents are actually _brother and sister_ - "

"Stop." Kousuke interrupted, laying a hand over one of his daughter's. "Being a Blade Child now means nothing. You don't have to go through what we did."

"Sure, I'm spoiled, right? Never fitting in, getting teased for being smart or out-running all the third year students - "

"You don't have to kill anyone to survive." The redhead spoke over her this time. "And you've never been told that you're going to die when you turn twenty, that your fate is either to kill or be killed. You've never been hunted by adults convinced that your very existence is a sin against God." He gestured to Ryouko, who sat silently on Mai's other side, her eyes closed. "That was every day for us. When we lived, survived all that, it was a miracle. And you can hardly blame us for wanting to bring up a daughter who would never have to know the kind of life we did."

"Yeah, whatever." The teenager pulled her hand away from her father's. "That doesn't change the fact that my parents are _siblings_. How could you act like that was normal? This whole time - I had _no idea_! What if I had turned out messed up because you guys decided you wanted to fuck? Why would you even consider creating a child - "

"You'll get over it." Kousuke cut her off, and his voice was hard this time. "And I don't want to hear you mention it again."

"Whatever." She snapped her head away. "Thanks for that. I could have gone without knowing I was the outcome of incest."

"Mai." Ryouko spoke now, but even she sounded defeated. "Please stop."

"Hey..." Lacuna spoke up, a little tentatively, casting a worried glance at Mai's parents before turning his head to his father. "My mother is one of the Blade Children, too? Ryouko-san said I was one of them, so unless she meant I was half..."

"You are one of them." Kirie answered for Eyes, folding her hands together. "And that is something else we need to discuss."

"... what does that mean?"

"There is something you must know, before we proceed any further." Eyes avoided his son's suddenly surprised gaze, instead looking over to the pink-haired woman that sat at the end of the table. "You were not passed on to me when your mother died. The truth is that I had not even known of your existence until you were four years old."

Lacuna's usually composed nature finally seemed to buckle under the weight of this information. "What?" he asked, and Mitsuko suddenly feared for him. This was not sounding good - on top of everything else she had just heard, this was actually sounding terrifying. "What do you mean?" he asked, dropping Mitsuko's hand. "You told me my mother died and that you came for me. Was _that_ a lie, too? On top of everything else?"

"We were traveling in France about thirteen years ago," Kirie began, obviously not enjoying the telling of this story, "and killing time before leaving Paris for the next string of concerts. We were walking by an orphanage - well, it was part of a church - and sitting outside was this little boy with blue eyes and white hair - "

"I was an_ ORPHAN_?"

"Yes." Eyes finally looked back to his son. "You had been raised at an orphanage in Paris since you had been... deposited there." He paused, drawing in a breath. "I had not known of your existence until that time. However, when I saw you, there was no denying that you were my son. I immediately adopted you and brought you back to Japan."

"I tested your DNA as soon as the adoption was final." Kirie's voice was unusually gentle. "You are your father's son - your DNA is a perfect match. However, he didn't name you, didn't even know you were born..." She sighed. "At first I thought he was crazy, storming into that orphanage and demanding to take you home with him. He didn't know anything about you, and didn't have anything to go off of but a hunch. And the only thing anyone knew was that your name was Lacuna - someone left you there on the doorstep in the middle of the night. It was a one in a million chance, but when the DNA matched... I couldn't believe it, but it was the truth. We really found you that way." She paused, then added one final comment. "I try not to believe in fate, but if that was anything, it was an event that was meant to happen."

"I can't..." The teen's head dropped into his hands, his eyes still wide with disbelief. Mitsuko looked on at this scene, worried, and even Mai was beginning to come around, her emerald eyes moving to the figure of her friend slumped over in his chair. There was a long moment of silence before Lacuna spoke again, his voice weak. "How did I even... get there...?"

"Unfortunately, there are two holes in our story that we don't yet have filled." Kirie continued speaking, her gaze fixed on Lacuna. "First, we don't know the identity of your mother. But when we tested your DNA, we found that your parents had the same father - Mizushiro Yaiba - meaning your mother certainly has to be one of the Blade Children as well. But we don't know which Blade Children are - or were - alive and could have conceived a child, so it's almost impossible to narrow down her identity."

"What about the Mikanagi File?" Mitsuko spoke up, unable to stop herself, and cringed as several pairs of wide eyes were turned in her direction. "Sorry," she said immediately, "I didn't mean to overhear, but - "

"I _knew_ you were in the hallway that night," Ayumu remarked, chuckling. "Well - that isn't something I know a lot about, but as you might have guessed, it's basically a list of Blade Children. Right?" He looked to Kousuke, who nodded. "Originally there were several names of Blade Children on this list who were otherwise removed from the "master list" by a woman named Isabel Mikanagi. Though several of them were killed, the information on the remaining children was collected - but we still had no way to definitely match them to the identity of Lacuna's mother."

Mitsuko nodded, slowly. "And there is a connection to the person named Amanae Fusai?"

"Oh lord." Kirie rolled her eyes, pointing at Hiyono with one finger. "She really is_ your_ daughter."

The blonde beamed at the pink-haired woman, but it was Kousuke who answered that question. "Fusai's daughter, Amanae Yukine - or, rather, Charlotte - was one of the Blade Children. However, she killed several of the Blade Children whose names appeared in the Mikanagi File. The real Amanae Yukine died in a house fire with her parents - but Charlotte, the Blade Child, masqueraded as her for a long time." He paused, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "This was something that went on when Ryouko, Rio, and I were pretty young, and still being yanked around by Kiyotaka, so..."

"That's a story for another time." Rio looked across the table at her nephew, her gaze softening. "Are you going to be alright, Lacuna-kun? You look very pale..."

"Yeah. I'll live." He glanced over at Kirie as he lifted his head. "So you have no idea who my mother is?"

"No," she answered. "DNA wasn't kept for all of the Blade Children - and if it was, it would have been destroyed by the Savers, or even by Isabel Mikanagi before she took her own life. So this is the first hole in your past. The second hole is that we literally don't know _how_ you were created. As impossible as this may sound, Eyes Rutherford would have had to... er..." She suddenly looked uncomfortable. "... would have had to surrender his DNA unwillingly, considering... he... erm." She frowned. "... considering he hadn't... been with anyone in that manner."

Kousuke sounded slightly amused. "Don't you mean anyone _else_?"

"Shut up." Kirie sent a venomous glare in his direction, then rolled her eyes at the sound of Rio giggling into her hands. "What I mean is that Lacuna..." She turned back to the pale-haired teen. "... must have been artificially created in some manner, much like the original Blade Children. There were times that this DNA could have been acquired without Eyes knowing anything about it, but we just don't have any more information to go off of." She sighed, shaking her head. "So that's where we stand, right now."

"You lied to me," Lacuna murmured, looking down at his hands. "About my mother... and the Blade Children... everything..."

"Lakkun..." Mitsuko felt compelled to speak up. "They had no choice..."

"Yes." Eyes nodded at her, then turned his gaze on his son, reaching out to gently press a hand to his shoulder. "You had only vague memories of your time at the orphanage, but you did have clear memories of living in France. As you grew you asked about your mother - at first where she was... but then _who_ she was. We agreed that it would be best to tell you that she had passed away, and that I had taken you in. There was no reason to give you - or the rest of you..." With this he gestured in turn to Mai and Mitsuko. "... any further weight to bear. And it was our intention to take the knowledge of our pasts to the grave. But..."

"But someone wanted to unearth the secrets that had been long-buried." Ayumu spoke up now, gesturing to the folder in front of Kirie. "Those postcards - the ones you received - were meant to lead you to the truth about the Blade Children. The first card is simple enough, but there is no published information about the Blade Children... which it sounds like you may have found out for yourself."

"The second postcard is talking about Munemiya Kana, right?" Mitsuko glanced at her father, who nodded. "What did that have to do with the Blade Children?"

"Nohara Mizue was one of the Blade Children." The dark-haired man glanced at his wife. "That's how my involvement started... and your mother's. It's quite a long story - and we'll have to tell it another time - but I was wrongfully accused of the crime she committed. We learned the truth about the murder, but then we found that Nohara - and the other boy involved - were among the Blade Children. My brother had said something about the Blade Children, once, and I was desperate to learn the truth about them." He gestured to Kousuke, Ryouko, Rio, and Eyes in turn. "That's how I met these four. Although they at first wanted to... test me..."

Rio gave Ayumu a perfectly innocent smile. "In completely non-life threatening and absolutely not-dangerous ways..."

Mai gave the short woman a skeptical look. "Yeah, I don't believe that, considering you make _bombs_ for_ fun_."

"Ehehe..."

"Although they tested me several times," Ayumu continued, chuckling, "and my life was in danger on many different occasions, we all eventually forged some sort of friendship." He paused, catching Kirie's gaze, which he held for a moment before speaking to his daughter again. "As I'm sure you heard me say, Mitsuko, there are many things that happened during those times that caused us all pain. Although we've told you the basics, there are other events that we would prefer not to discuss."

"Haven't you kept enough secrets from us?" Mai spoke up again, sourly, frowning down the table at Ayumu. "Are you sure there's nothing else we should know about? Or is there more incest in my family tree I should be aware of?"

"Mai, knock it off." Lacuna finally spoke again, his voice low. He ran a hand through his hair before fixing his eyes on his father, sighing. "So the third postcard... its meaning is literal, then, isn't it?"

"Well, yes - that should be obvious by now." Kirie plucked the postcard from within the folder, holding it between two fingers, a slight smirk on her mouth. "Although the writer may have been talking about your parents, they may have also meant for you to find out that you - " She pointed to Mai and Lacuna with her free hand. " - are Blade Children." She paused. "But, considering the way you all reacted here... you didn't learn anything about the Blade Children before this meeting."

"Which brings us to the question that we haven't yet answered." Ayumu leaned forward, folding his arms together on the top of the table, looking at each of the three teenagers in turn. "Who left you those postcards? And why?"

No one had an answer for him. And for a long time, all ten occupants of the Rutherford dining room sat in total silence, exchanging worried glances and confused looks, no one knowing what else to say or what to do.


	10. said and done

"This sucks."

"I know."

Lacuna didn't say anything else, and Mitsuko didn't expect him to. She sat on one end of a couch in the Rutherford living room, curled up with her legs tucked beneath her and her arms wrapped around a pillow. Lacuna lay sprawled out on the rest of the couch, his head resting on the cushion closest to her, his arms folded tightly across his chest. His eyes were closed, and had been since he had retreated here, flopping down beside her without speaking a word. He was clearly distressed - and who could blame him? Over the course of the previous half hour, he had learned the truth about his parents, about the Blade Children... and about himself.

After the conversation had ceased and it was clear there were no more stories to be told, Kirie had dismissed them all from the table before grabbing her coat and disappearing, presumably going outside to smoke. Mai had abruptly stormed off after her, dismissing the concern of her parents and aunt with a few angry waves of her hand. The rest of the adults had risen from the table, murmuring quietly to each other about various topics or another, and Hiyono had softly asked Mitsuko if she was alright. The brunette had simply wanted to be alone at that moment - and she had said as much. Her mother had allowed her to leave the room without another word, and a few minutes after she found solace in the lonely living room, Lacuna had joined her. He'd taken his place beside her with a heavy sigh, and they'd simply stayed there, together, not speaking, for almost ten minutes. None of the adults had disturbed them, even to peek into the room for a moment, and for that Mitsuko was strangely glad. Her mind was spinning, and she was certain her friend's was moving twice as fast. To learn what he had...

She hugged the pillow in her arms tightly, casting a short glance at the white-haired teen. His eyes were still closed, but his eyebrows had drawn themselves together in a frown, his lips pursed, and she guessed it wouldn't be long before he spoke again. It was funny, she thought, watching him, that the whole time she had been chasing the mystery of the Blade Children, there had been one right beside her. Of course, giving him that title seemed a little strange, considering he wasn't among the original children birthed to Mizushiro Yaiba's eighty willing hosts, but...

But the way Eyes, Kousuke, Ryouko, and Rio had spoken - the way they, as Blade Children, had spoken - seemed to hint that there was great significance to being bestowed with this title. There had been talk of their creation in test tubes, with scientific engineering, something that may have been replicated with Lacuna. But beyond that, there had been talk of murders, of Hunters, of fights to survive, of bloodshed and loss and curses and - and it was just all too much, Mitsuko thought, cringing. She didn't blame her parents, or the other adults, for bringing it up like this. They had been left with no choice. But why had someone chosen to spoil their untouched, untainted lives? Who had sought to ruin what could have been normal lives by leaving those postcards?

"I don't know what to think right now." She'd guessed right: Lacuna began to speak again, softly, and his words flowed easily, as if he was allowing his thoughts to move directly from his mind to his mouth, unobstructed by second guesses or hesitation. "It isn't so much that my father is one of the Blade Children, or that he was involved in such strange events - because I think it explains some things that I couldn't explain. And Kirie's position as a Watcher doesn't surprise me, because she's always been secretive. But I honestly believed that I had a mother who loved me, who raised me when my father couldn't, and then made sure that I would be taken care of when she died. To find out that it was all a lie, just for the sake of keeping me happy, or to keep me from asking questions... I don't even care that she's one of the Blade Children, if that's the truth. But I want to know why she would - why she would abandon me - " His voice trembled with those words, and she grew concerned, but he continued after only a slight pause. "Mai doesn't realize how good she has it. Her parents are good people. They love each other, and they love her, and they've been taking care of her since the moment she was born. She should be able to look past the blood they share. I don't have a mother - I don't even know who my mother _is_. And if my father hadn't found me, I probably wouldn't even know who _he_ was, either." He drew in a breath, his blue eyes finally opening, and this time there was a longer period of silence before he spoke again. "I try really hard to be a positive person, Mitzi, you know that. But this is difficult for me. I don't know what to do right now."

"You don't have to do anything." She shook her head. "I know this isn't easy."

"But I don't even think we've learned the whole truth. The way your dad talked, it's like there are still things we don't know..." His voice trembled. "And all the things they said about being chased by Hunters, about the rest of the Blade Children being killed... Do we even want to know any more? What if my father had been killed by one of those people? I wouldn't even exist. And your uncle - "

"Lakkun," she said, softly, and he stopped mid-sentence, closing his mouth. She looked down at him, loosening her grip on the pillow, and after a moment she shifted on the couch, sliding her legs out from beneath her. "I'm sorry," she continued, after a pause, placing the pillow on the floor and sitting up straight. "If I had known that looking into those postcards would lead to all of this, and cause so much pain... I would have stopped. I'm not the one who got hurt... it's you and Mai who are affected - "

"No. Don't say that." This time he interrupted her. "This is... overwhelming, and crazy, and I don't know what to think... but it's like that for everyone. You just found out some things about your uncle, and your father, that you probably could have gone without knowing... right?" He turned his head, looking in the direction of the entrance to the dining room, past the piano, with half-lidded eyes. "And, truthfully, what Asazuki-san said is right. Being one of the Blade Children means nothing now. There aren't any Hunters chasing after us - at least not that we're aware of. All it means right now is that I have a weird background." There was a pause, and he turned his head back, tilting it so that he could see her. "It isn't so much that I'm the result of some guy's crazy science project for humanity - that my grandfather was probably a lunatic - but that my mother abandoned me just like her parents probably abandoned her. That kind of thing..."

She cringed. "I'm really sorr - "

"Don't apologize, okay? It really isn't your fault." He breathed out a heavy sigh, shifting on the couch to lie closer to her, then moving back again to place his head gently in her lap. She felt her cheeks grow warm but didn't move, trying hard to keep herself from fidgeting, her hands frozen to her sides. "I've relied on you a lot since I got back," he continued, "and I'm probably going to need to rely on you some more. I know I'll live, I mean..." He lifted his eyes to hers, managing a slight smile. "It's not the end of the world, learning what I did. And it did explain some things. But the idea of going through this alone..."

"You won't be alone, stupid. It's not like your parents are going anywhere."

"I can always count on you to call me a name while I'm feeling down, Mitzi."

She blinked, caught off guard, her eyes growing wide. "I'm - I'm sorry, I didn't mean - "

"Relax. It was a joke." He smiled again, a little wider this time, folding his arms loosely over his chest. "Believe it or not, I like that kind of thing. If you didn't care about me at all, you wouldn't even bother to call me names."

"Something is wrong with you..." She rolled her eyes. The living room was silent for a moment, and Mitsuko had to think about what to do, realizing abruptly that her racing thoughts had finally quieted. She swallowed hard before lifting one hand to gently rest against this cheek, and he leaned into her touch, his eyes closing. "I don't know how you've been relying on me," she said to him, softly, fighting to ignore the heat that rose into her face again. "You were the one who had to spend all day yesterday listening to me cry about one thing or the other. And my father wasn't even mad at me in the end..."

"I'm relying on you right now, aren't I?" His voice was quiet. "You're listening to me talk like this. And since I got back, you've been a good friend to me again. We've just gone through some difficult things for the past two days."

"But..."

"I'm only doing what a good friend should do." He laughed, but the sound was almost bitter, and the brunette knew immediately that something was wrong. She leaned over slightly to stare down at him, trying to read his expression, and after a moment he opened his eyes and gazed up at her, a glimpse of pain passing across his face. "At a time like this," he murmured, "all I can think about is how much I want to be close to you..."

She blinked, startled. "Lacuna - "

"No. Forget it." He laughed, weakly, shifting his attention elsewhere to avoid making eye contact with her. "My brain's not working as it should right now... if I say anything else like that today, you'll just have to ignore it."

She pursed her lips together, running over those words in her head - _I want to be close to you_ - and slowly, very slowly, a thought came to her. What was it he'd said the night before? _For such a smart girl, you sure can be pretty dumb sometimes_ - "Ah," she said aloud, suddenly, and her fingertips twitched against his cheek. Was _that_ it? Could it really be that the person he'd been talking about all along...

"Mitsuko, if you're thinking about what I said, _please_ stop - "

"No," she said, cutting him off easily. He gave her a pleading look, and she simply shook her head, bending over him until the tips of her pigtails settled on her lap. "Now really isn't the time for this," she told him, her voice low, "but if you've been lying to me about something - about what your intentions are - I want to know about it."

His face was slowly taking on a pink tint, and he swallowed, his blue eyes fixed on hers. "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

She laughed quietly. "Only if you're planning to tell me that you came back to Japan just to try to make me your girlfriend or something stupid like that."

"Not exactly..."

"Damn it, Lacuna - "

"Oh my fucking _god_, what _is_ it with you two?" At the sound of Mai's voice, both teenagers looked up, taking in the sight of the black-haired girl leaning against the side of Eyes Rutherford's white grand piano. Mitsuko wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there - or how much she had heard - but the annoyed look on the younger girl's face made it obvious that she wasn't in the mood to see this kind of scene. "Look," Mai continued, crossing her arms, "I'm totally fine with you guys doing whatever it is you're doing, but could you _not_ do it while I'm here?"

"Where were you?" Lacuna ignored her remarks entirely, but also made no attempt to lift his head out of Mitsuko's lap, simply turning to look over at his friend. "Your parents were worried."

"Talking to Kirie. She told me a lot of things neither of you know." She smirked. "For instance, one of the other Blade Children tried to kill your dad. And there was a huge shootout in Tsukiomi that involved _everybody_. Somehow they kept the reasoning out of the news, but the school was closed for weeks because of what happened."

Mitsuko blinked a few times, caught off guard. "A shootout?"

Lacuna echoed her. "In Tsukiomi?"

"Yeah. Listen, she said I'm not supposed to repeat this, but it's too good not to share..." Mai hurried over to the couch and perched on the arm beside Mitsuko, speaking in a hushed whisper. "This guy, Kanone Hilbert - one of the other Blade Children - took your dad - " She pointed at Mitsuko. " - hostage. My parents and Rio stuck around to try to rescue him. And then _your_ dad - " She pointed down at Lacuna. " - showed up and stormed in there to try to reason with Kanone, 'cause I guess they were really close. Which... is a little weird, because this Kanone guy tried to kill him, and he was in the hospital forever, but whatever."

"What happened?"

"Your mom - " She pointed at Mitsuko again, who drew in a sharp breath. " - came out of nowhere and distracted Kanone while everybody else tried to come up with a plan to fight him. And then somewhere along the way your aunt showed up? Kirie was telling this whole thing really fast, so I didn't get all the details, but then she said Kanone threw my dad out a window and he broke like every bone in his body! And he shot my mom, and pretty much everybody else, so they were all in the hospital for weeks - "

"Mai," the brunette interrupted, her voice trembling somewhat, "what _happened_?"

"Oh, in the end? Kanone lost. Your mom shot him."

Mitsuko felt her eyes grow wide. "My mother shot someone?" she shrieked.

"Shhhhhh!" Mai hushed her quickly, her green eyes darting around as if she was worried someone would hear - but there was no sign of any of the adults. She paused for a moment before speaking again, quietly. "It was only with a tranquilizer gun. But the way Kirie was talking, she made it sound like your mom went totally nuts. I could never see Hiyono-san doing anything like that, and Kirie wasn't in the building or anything - she was outside doing... Watcher shit, or whatever... but I guess somebody told her everything about what happened. Kanone passed out and he eventually went to some sort of holding facility, and then a couple weeks later - " She suddenly sounded excited. "- he got killed by that Mizushiro Hizumi guy."

"By - by_ Mizushiro-san_?"

"That's right... how did you know of him?" Lacuna looked up at Mitsuko as she raised both hands to cover her open mouth. "When Mizushiro Yaiba came up earlier, you recognized his name..."

She bowed her head, feeling horrified, not sure how to answer him. There was a moment of silence before she was able to speak again, and when she did, she had to fight hard to keep her voice steady. "My father said that Mizushiro Hizumi was his friend. If he killed one of the Blade Children..."

"That's probably why I wasn't supposed to tell you anything, huh?" Mai laughed. "Oops. Oh well. It all sounded really weird, anyway. Why would one of the Blade Children try to kill the others? And if that Hizumi guy was the brother of the person who made the Blade Children in the first place, why would he kill them?"

"Kirie said earlier that there was a "switch" the Blade Children were expected to experience around age twenty." Lacuna lifted himself into a sitting position with a soft grunt, shifting on the couch to place his feet on the floor. "Remember? Mizushiro Yaiba went through a change around that age, and that's when he first started talking about purifying society - something like that. Maybe that's what happened to both of them..."

She shrugged. "Maybe. I didn't ask a lot of questions." She lifted a hand to twirl the blue stripe she'd added to the front of her hair, tilting her head slightly. "All I wanted to know is what else happened to my dad. He was talking like some pretty awful things went on. But honestly, Kirie made him sound like a total badass..." Her expression brightened. "And he got in trouble all the time."

"Are you feeling better about your parents now?" He raised an eyebrow. "I don't blame you for being upset about it, but you said some pretty hurtful things..."

"Ugh. I don't even want to think about that." She made a face. "Seriously, why did they have to tell me? Do they realize how gross that is?"

"Well, think of it this way... As one of the Blade Children, it would be pretty hard to find anyone else you could trust with the truth about how you came to be, or why people were out to kill you. Don't you think it would have been easier to stay together?" Lacuna smiled slightly. "I guess that's what happened with my dad and Kirie, too. I don't know how it came about, but..." He slowly stopped speaking, apparently realizing that Mitsuko had been quiet for the last few moments. "Mitzi?" he queried, softly, turning to look at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She lifted a hand to her forehead, swallowing. "It's just a little... overwhelming..."

"What is?"

"My father said that Mizushiro Hizumi had the same degenerative disease as him. And when he passed away, there was research performed on his body that contributed to my father staying alive." She lowered her head, staring down at her lap. "Papa said that Mizushiro-san was a kind person... but... he did also say that he did regrettable things during his lifetime. But for someone who was only eighteen when he died - to have killed one of the Blade Children - " She shook her head. "It's hard to believe that someone who was my father's friend would do something like that..."

"I think this whole situation is much more complicated than we realize." One of Lacuna's hands settled on her shoulder. "If this is something we really need to know about, I think our parents will tell us. Right now, just dealing with everything else..." She heard him laugh, weakly. "I don't know how we're all still sitting here, speaking to each other normally."

Mai snorted. "Me either."

"Mitsuko-chan?" At the sound of a soft voice, all three teenagers looked up and saw Takeuchi Rio standing in the doorway that led to the dining area from the living room. She smiled at them all, but her gaze was fixed on Mitsuko. "Can I speak to you, please?" she asked. "Without Lacuna-kun and Mai-chan?"

"Without us?" Lacuna sounded apprehensive, and the brunette felt his fingers tighten on her shoulder. "Is this something we aren't supposed to - "

"No, no, it's nothing like that. There aren't going to be any secrets anymore." The gray-haired woman shook her head. "But because Mitsuko-chan was the one who received the postcards, she may have some knowledge that will be helpful to us. It will be easier to speak to her alone about it right now. And we can fill you two in afterwards." She tilted her head, smiling over at her niece and nephew. "Ne?"

Lacuna and Mai exchanged glances. "I guess that's fine," Mai said, reluctantly. "But don't forget to tell us - "

"Don't worry." Rio giggled. "I know how you three are. Mitsuko-chan will tell you everything even if I say not to."

Mitsuko made a face as she rose from the couch, crossing the room to where Rio stood, but there was no use protesting: that remark was true. She followed Rio out of the living room and back into the dining area, which was now strangely empty - save Tsuchiya Kirie and Narumi Ayumu, standing together by a window, engaged in conversation. When she entered, they noticed her but continued speaking for a moment, their voices low. Almost a minute went by before Mitsuko's father cleared his throat, walking back to the table and dropping into the chair at the upper end. "It's been a while since we've needed to even think about the Blade Children," he remarked with a low chuckle, motioning for his daughter to take a seat beside him. "As the story was being told again, I had a few moments where I realized I'd forgotten some of the details..."

Mitsuko bit down on her bottom lip, casting a glance down at Rio before moving to sit beside her father. Kirie remained standing by the window, silent, but Rio settled into the chair on Mitsuko's other side, giving the teenager a soft pat on the arm before she spoke. "I've always known that there was a possibility of someone attempting to dig up the past. When Lacuna-kun was discovered in France, we were all very fearful that something was happening then - but these past few years have been very quiet."

Kirie spoke up from her place at the window, her voice cold. "Except for that Hunter."

"Yes..." Rio sighed softly, turning her dark eyes up to the brunette beside her. "Lacuna-kun will be told this later, but there was one instance of a Hunter making a threat on his life while he was young. That's why he left Japan so abruptly, although Eyes never told him the reason. It would have been too hard for him to understand what really happened."

Mitsuko felt her eyes widen. "That's why - ?"

"I've been monitoring the situation in Japan for a long time. Kiyotaka, too." The pink-haired woman spoke again, folding her arms tight across her chest. "About eight years ago, we learned that there was a small group of Hunters still banded together. They had been inactive, and were warned to stay away from the remaining Blade Children - but one of them had learned of Lacuna's existence, and threatened his life. Eyes and I made the decision to leave the country while they were... dealt with." She turned slightly away from the window, her blue eyes fixed on Mitsuko. "When he asked to come back, we thought it was safe, so we agreed. But it appears that around the same time, someone decided to dig up the past again, and this time they went to you."

"And that's what we wanted to speak to you about." Ayumu picked up the manila folder that had been resting on the table, flipping it open and removing one of the postcards. "There are several sets of fingerprints on the mail you received. We used our resources to identify yours, Lacuna's, and Mai's - as well as mine and Hiyono's."

"You had our fingerprints available to do that?"

"Your mother keeps a very detailed index of information..." He chuckled. "She had some hospital records at her disposal, though it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss how she acquired them. Either way..." His brown eyes settled on his daughter. "There's just one set of fingerprints present on each postcard - and the two envelopes you have - that don't match any of ours. Also, they don't match any fingerprints on record for the Blade Children whose information we have, or any of the Hunters, Watchers, or Savers who were fingerprinted for criminal activities." He placed the postcard down on the surface of the table. "But the prints are very small - like the fingerprints of a young girl."

"I know who they belong to." Mitsuko watched as this declaration sent expressions of shock across her father's face and Rio's - but Kirie didn't seem surprised in the slightest. "Lacuna walked me home one day, and when we got there, we saw a girl on the porch holding one of the envelopes. Her name is Yazawa Aiha. She's in Mai-chan's class at Tsukiomi."

"That was my guess. Somehow I had a feeling about this." Kirie turned and walked to the table, lifting the folder and withdrawing three sheets of paper. She scanned the first page, then the second, stopping after a moment to jab a finger at the text. "Sure enough. One of the Blade Children was named Yazawa Mie."

"Really?" Mitsuko suddenly gasped. "That's - then that's why she said what she did!"

"What did she say?"

"She told us that she was leaving the notes on behalf of someone else - a woman, because Aiha-chan said "she" several times." The teenager looked from Rio to her father, trying not to rush her words. "She was terrified when we caught her, because we weren't supposed to know that she was involved. She said that she was being forced to do it - and that the person telling her to leave me the postcards would reveal a secret about her if she didn't cooperate. If that secret is that she's one of the Blade Children..."

"There's only one problem." Kirie looked up, frowning. "Yazawa Mie has been missing since she was seventeen. She disappeared around the time Kanone Hilbert enrolled at Tsukiomi. She hasn't been seen since then, and furthermore, there's been no report of her having a child. The only second generation Blade Children we know of are sitting in that room." She gestured to the entrance to the living room. "However, there aren't a lot of Blade Children on this list who are still noted as "missing" as opposed to "deceased." So I suppose it's possible."

"Do you think that this girl could have been lying to Mitsuko-chan?" Rio drew her brows together, lifting her hand to rest her chin in one palm. "Perhaps someone was using her to deliver the messages, but that they told her to go by a different name for some reason..."

"It's possible that she was lying." Ayumu steepled his fingers. "But it doesn't make much sense for someone to have her use the family name of one of the Blade Children if their intention was to use her as an unseen messenger. Whoever was leaving the postcards for Mitsuko knew that she wasn't aware of the Blade Children, so the name "Yazawa" wouldn't have any meaning to her." He glanced at his daughter. "How did she react when you caught her?"

"She was really upset..." The brunette frowned. "She started to cry, and when I tried to touch her shoulder, she flinched. Unless she was a really good actress, I don't think she was pretending to be scared."

"Is it possible that the person asking her to leave the postcards was her mother?"

"I don't think so." She shook her head at her father. "We asked her who it was, and she wouldn't tell us. But she did say that she didn't know this person very well."

"We could very well be dealing with something very dangerous here." Kirie stepped away from the window, unfolding her arms, and the other occupants of the room watched as she walked to the entrance to the living room. "Mai-chan," she said, loudly, and after a moment the black-haired girl appeared. Kirie took her arm and brought her up to the head of the table, where she gave Mitsuko a confused glance that was returned with a shrug. "The girl in your class named Yazawa Aiha," Kirie began, "what do you know about her?"

"Her? She's a total freak." Mai rolled her eyes. "I tried to talk to her, but she just yelped and ran away. She almost never says anything in class, and when she does talk, she sounds like she's going to have a panic attack. I think she's probably scared of her own shadow."

"There's a possibility that her mother is one of the Blade Children." At that declaration, the teenager's eyes went wide, and she stared up at Kirie with her mouth half-open. The pink-haired woman nodded once, glancing at Ayumu and Rio in turn before she spoke again. "I want you to do something for me," she said, looking down at Mai. "On Monday, before the day is over, tell that girl you want to talk to her. After class, bring her outside to the front of the school. I'll be waiting for you there. If her mother is one of the Blade Children - and if she's involved with someone who was making her leave those postcards for Mitsuko-chan - I want to find out."

Ayumu suddenly snorted. "Weren't you banned from the Tsukiomi campus?"

"That was twenty years ago. Nobody's going to remember!"

"Banned?" Rio blinked several times. "Why?"

"She stormed into my class and dragged me and Hizumi out without warning." Mitsuko looked over at her father and saw he was trying hard not to laugh. "After she was done with us, there were several teachers trying to chase her out of the school. Hiyono said later that she'd been banned from the campus."

"Stupid old men. They knew exactly why I was there." Kirie tossed her hair back over one shoulder, glaring at Ayumu for a moment before looking back to Mai. "Mai-chan. Can you do that for me?"

"Sure, whatever. I can't make any promises, though. The last time I tried to say anything to her, she bolted." The black-haired girl paused, her green eyes turning up to the ceiling as if she was thinking of something. "Although - Mitsuko - you said she listened to you, right?"

Mitsuko nodded. "Yes... I did tell her she could trust me, and she seemed to know that was true..."

"She may not have any idea that Mai-chan is one of the Blade Children." Rio turned her eyes up to her niece. "Maybe you could have Mitsuko-chan join you during lunch?"

"Yeah, that would work." Mai looked down at her friend. "D'you mind?"

"No. I'll come down to your classroom when lunch starts." The brunette shifted in her chair to make eye contact with Kirie. "But are you sure this will work? What if Aiha gets scared and runs away? Or what if the person who was making her leave the messages is watching, and sees you talking to her? Would you be recognized? Or even worse...?"

"We'll just have to play it by ear." The pink-haired woman nodded once, her blue eyes narrowing. "But don't worry about causing trouble. I'll have backup with me in case something happens."

"Backup?" Mai and Mitsuko chorused. The room was silent for a moment, until both teenagers realized that an unusually large smile had crossed Takeuchi Rio's face. Ayumu let out a loud sigh, and as Rio started to giggle into her hands, Mai grinned, rolling her eyes. "You know," she remarked, leaning over on one elbow against the top of the gray-haired woman's chair, "I think I'm gonna like having Rio-san for my aunt."

* * *

><p>Shortly after the impromptu meeting in the dining room was adjourned, Mai's parents re-appeared with the news that it was time for them to leave. They'd gone to the Narumi household the evening before and were still fairly tired, and Kousuke indicated that he wanted an opportunity to speak to his daughter alone about a few of the things in his past. The black-haired girl hadn't taken the news well, protesting that she wanted to stick around and talk to Lacuna, but her parents had insisted that they go. She'd left, although reluctantly, with a parting word to Kirie about her intent to speak to Aiha on Monday. "Seriously, though," she'd said over her shoulder, her green eyes narrowed at the pink-haired woman, "if she runs away, I blame you."<p>

Ayumu and Hiyono had followed suit a few minutes later; Kyou was evidently still at his friend's house, where he had spent the night, and Hiyono was worried about her son overstaying his welcome. Ayumu told his daughter that it was time to go and she agreed, obediently collecting her things from Lacuna's room and following her parents to the front of the Rutherford house. As she pulled a pair of sneakers from her overnight bag and bent in the entrance room to tie the laces, she heard her father thanking Eyes again, both for allowing Mitsuko to stay at his home overnight and for organizing that morning's discussion. "I am at your service," the pale-haired man replied, simply, his voice soft. "And your family is welcome here at any time."

Hiyono, standing beside her daughter in the small foyer, smiled a little at this declaration. "I won't be surprised if your father comes back for a visit just to play that piano of Rutherford-san's," she murmured to Mitsuko. "It's really something..."

"It is," she agreed, straightening up and lifting her coat from a hook on the wall. "I played it last night. It would have sounded better if I wasn't so out of practice."

"Hmm, well, you have been busy with school..." She winked. "At least, that's the excuse you should use with your father."

"You know everything, don't you, okaasan..."

"Are you both ready?" Ayumu stepped down over the short ledge into the entrance room, bending to slip on his shoes. "I'm taking a nap as soon as I get home."

"Ayumu..." The blonde stuck her lower lip out in a pout. "You said we were going shopping today..."

"That was before all _this_ happened." He chuckled as he stood, looking down at his wife with a slight smile. "But I did promise to take you shopping, since you apparently don't have quite enough clothing for this spoiled third child of ours..."

Mitsuko laughed. "If she's anything like me, papa, she'll never have enough clothing."

He shrugged, reaching for his coat. "It's too bad we couldn't have another boy. Kyou and I are going to be outnumbered."

"We could still have one more..."

"No," Ayumu and Mitsuko chorused, and then laughed together at Hiyono's crestfallen expression. "Three is enough, mama," Mitsuko said, leaning over to kiss her mother on the forehead, noticing how the blonde's face immediately brightened at the sound of being called this childish name. "Don't you think Kyou has been difficult enough?"

"Hmm, truthfully, you've been the difficult one..."

"What? _Me?_ Seriously?"

"Mitsuko?" At the sound of a voice behind them, all three members of the Narumi family turned, and the brunette blinked a few times at the sight of Lacuna standing in the doorway of the front room. "Can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, softly. "Before you go?"

"Um..." She hesitated, glancing up at her father, who nodded. "Sure," she answered; then, looking to her parents, smiled as brightly as she could manage. "I'll be right outside," she told them. "It should only be a minute."

"That's fine." Hiyono beamed at both teenagers, and Mitsuko had to suppress a groan at what was her mother probably getting the wrong idea. She gave Lacuna a little wave before turning to exit through the front door, Ayumu sliding on his coat as he trailed behind her. "We'll be in the car!" she called, her voice reaching Mitsuko's ears just before the door closed.

"Sorry..." The soft sound of footsteps brought Mitsuko's attention back to Lacuna, and she turned around completely, facing him as he padded softly over to the edge of the ledge that separated the short hallway from the entrance room where shoes and coats were kept. The brunette gave him a curious look, placing her overnight bag and school bag down on the floor by her feet, and he laughed nervously as he stopped walking. "I feel bad for making your parents go outside, but I did want to say something only to you, so..."

"Ah." She frowned, taking a step closer, needing to tilt her head back to meet his gaze with her own. Lacuna was already a full foot taller than her, but with the leverage of the raised floor, she had to look almost straight up to see him properly. "About earlier?"

"Yeah." He lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck, evidently uncomfortable. "Listen... I wasn't lying to you about my reasons for coming back to Japan. I really wasn't planning on doing anything stupid. But..."

"But?"

"But I... didn't plan on this happening." His blue eyes darted away from hers. "I don't mean any of what happened with the Blade Children, but... other things..."

She sighed. "Lacuna, spit it out, would you?"

"I'm trying!" He made a face at her, crossing his arms across his chest. "I just don't want you to get the wrong impression! The last thing I want is for you to think I've been planning something, or that I was trying to take advantage of - okay, that's wrong..." His cheeks began to color slightly. "Ugh, I mean... I really want to be around you, but I don't want you to be uncomfortable. We're childhood friends, and that's awesome, but I've been spending so much time with you lately that I..." He paused, staring down at her, and as she felt her own face start to flush he groaned, shaking his head violently. "I suck at this!"

"Do you really have to tell me this?"

His face fell. "You - you don't want to hear it?"

She rubbed at one of her cheeks, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, her gaze dropping to the floor. "Look," she started, slowly, "normally this kind of thing doesn't bother me, and before anybody knew better, some guys at Tsukiomi asked me to be their girlfriend last year. It's really just embarrassing... and it's easy for me to turn down people I don't know very well, but you're a different case entirely..."

"Mi - Mitzi, I'm not asking you for that - "

She looked up. "You're not?"

"No." He shook his head again. "I just want you to know that - I - " He swallowed, glancing away. " - that I care about you."

"... that's it?"

"Yes..." He sighed, smacking his forehead with one palm. "... no. No, it's not. I don't even know what I'm trying to say. You can go. I'll figure it out."

"Okay," she said, shrugging, reaching for her bag again. "I'll see you Monday."

"Yeah... see you." She turned on her heel as he spoke, his voice weak, but she had taken only three steps in the direction of the door when his voice sounded again. "Mitsuko," he said suddenly, almost urgently, "wait. Just - " There was a thump behind her, and she only had enough time to look over her shoulder before he was there, behind her, one of his hands seizing her own and tugging her back. She managed a yelp of surprise as she was whirled back to him, and in that instant he had bent to press his lips to hers in a soft kiss. It took a moment for what was happening to register, but when it did -

"LACUNA!" She wrenched out of his grasp, aware of just how loud she'd shouted his name, but she didn't care. Her heart had begun to beat rapidly, so strong that she could clearly feel each beat in her chest, and her face felt so hot that it was as if she'd been burnt. "Why would you_ do_ that?" she shrieked, lifting one hand to cover her mouth, her eyes wide. "_Why?_"

He cringed. "I knew that was a bad idea..."

"What made you think you could just - kiss me - IDIOT!" She lifted her bags and slung them at him by the handles, angrily, watching as they struck the side of his body with little effect. "You stupid, STUPID BOY!" she shouted, shaking her head so hard that her pigtails slapped the sides of her face. "For the second time, you just decided you could kiss me out of nowhere, without asking permission - you - you colossal _IDIOT!_" Her voice suddenly caught in her throat, and she whirled around on her heel, bolting for the door with her messenger bag on one arm and her overnight bag dangling from her hand. "I'm going home," she announced, yanking the door open, trying hard to ignore the fact that her words were already losing strength. "Don't bother calling me - or - just don't bother!"

"Mitsuko, I'm sorry - " he began, but the sound of the door slamming behind her put an end to anything else he was about to say.


	11. exits and entrances

**author's note:** For those of you who may grow weary of the teenage angst in this chapter, stick it out until the end. It's worth it!

* * *

><p>"Is she mad?"<p>

"Furious."

"On a scale of one to ten..."

"About a hundred."

"Shit..."

"I can _hear_ you two." Mitsuko sent a sharp glare over her shoulder, first at her younger brother, then at a particular white-haired teenager. Before she had time to see their reactions she whipped her head away, letting out a huff, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. Beside her, Mai laughed but made no comment, opting to continue walking beside her friend in silence. It was Monday morning and the brunette was leading the walk to Tsukiomi, her black-haired friend to one side and Lacuna and Kyou lingering behind. Mitsuko hadn't wanted to walk to school - and hadn't wanted to see Lacuna Rutherford until it was absolutely necessary - but her parents had insisted not only on the walk, but also on the three teenagers staying together. So she hadn't been able to avoid it at all.

After leaving the Rutherford household on early Saturday afternoon, Mitsuko had thrown herself into anything she could find to keep herself busy, not wanting to dwell on either the Blade Children situation or Lacuna's actions (or what they meant). After a quick lunch at home, she'd spent much of Saturday out shopping with her mother, father, and brother. She'd focused first on picking out clothing for the upcoming baby, then looked for a few new spring and summer pieces to add to her own closet. Kyou, too, had needed clothes: he was in the middle of a growth spurt and only a few precious centimeters from passing his mother and older sister in height. The family had left their local mall and various other stores carrying multiple bags - much to Ayumu's (mock) chagrin - then had enjoyed a nice dinner out together, talking about things like baby names and what else needed to be done to the spare bedroom that was being converted to a nursery. Mitsuko's phone had buzzed in her pocket once, mid-meal, and she had ignored it. She only read the text message that had arrived hours later - and it was a simple note from Lacuna that read "I'm sorry" and nothing more. After dinner she had cleaned the house (to keep her mother from doing it) and practiced new songs on the piano, then spent hours on the internet, reading what felt like a year's worth of useless information. When she finally went to bed, it had been past two in the morning, and she had slept restlessly and endured short, unhappy dreams.

She'd woken up on Sunday morning far less mad, but almost driven to tears by the frustration of not being able to sleep soundly. She'd quietly cursed to herself, punched her pillow, muttered angry things about Lacuna - and had finally found herself curled up in a ball on her futon, her fists clenched, staring at where her cell phone lay on the floor. She had wanted to be angry with him for kissing her without warning - for the second time in her life, no less - but she couldn't bring herself to it. No, that wasn't why she had been so frustrated. She was frustrated because, in the wake of that unexpected kiss, she couldn't understand what she felt.

"Hey." At her side, Mai spoke softly, bringing her back to reality. "He's going to be pretty upset if you act like this all day."

"Act like what?"

"Mitsuko." The black-haired girl shot her an annoyed look. "Don't be stupid. Seriously. He's already acting like a drama queen about this whole thing. If I didn't have unlimited texts I'd be in trouble, considering how many messages he sent me over the weekend."

The brunette breathed out a sigh, casting a glance over her shoulder at Lacuna. He walked behind them with Kyou at his elbow, the younger boy speaking quietly about something - probably giving advice on how to deal with her. When Hiyono had asked her daughter what was bothering her at dinner on Sunday evening, Mitsuko had answered honestly... and her mother had repeated it loud enough for the rest of family to hear, meaning Kyou now knew what was going on. "I'm not trying to punish him or anything," she muttered, tossing her hair over one shoulder. "But I don't want him to think it's okay to just... do something like that..."

"Don't you think you may have given him the impression that it was what you wanted?"

"I guess. But he still could have asked." She frowned. "I mean... I was pretty upset on Friday, and I guess we were really close that whole night, but..."

Mai chuckled. "So you're totally fine sleeping in his bed and hugging him and everything, but kissing is out of the question?"

"... can we not talk about this anymore?"

"Yeah, sure. Just trying to figure out what's going on." She waved her hand at the older girl. "Obviously I thought you guys were already way past the "oh my god, I don't know how I feel about this" stage." After a pause, she took a look over her own shoulder, her green eyes focusing on Kyou. "Did you guys tell the twerp?" she asked, softly, her voice low. "About the Blade Children?"

"Oh... no." Mitsuko shook her head. "Papa and I talked about it after we all left on Saturday. He said that there shouldn't be a need to say anything right now. When Kyou's a little older, he'll be told what he needs to know, if anything." She lifted a hand to rub her forehead. "But he already knows _something_ is going on. He's pretty intuitive..."

"I figured." Mai laughed. "It was hard to act like nothing happened, and I didn't even have anybody to pretend for."

"How are you... feeling about it?"

"Honestly? A lot better." The dark-haired girl managed a lopsided smile. "I mean, the siblings thing still grosses me out. But you guys said something about how it was easier for them to stay together, and... based on a couple things my dad told me, I guess I can't hold a grudge against them. They went through a hell of a lot more than what Kirie talked about." She lowered her eyes to the ground, watching the sidewalk pass beneath their feet. "My dad almost died a couple times, mostly because that Kanone Hilbert guy was _really_ crazy. I got told again not to repeat certain things to you or Lakkun, but seriously... if he'd had his way, we wouldn't even be here at all. And I dunno about you, but I like being alive."

"Yeah." Mitsuko smiled slightly. "But it doesn't make too much sense to dwell on the past, does it? We're all here now."

"You should take your own advice, oneech - OW!" Kyou, who had suddenly appeared directly beside his sister, covered his nose with both hands, wincing; Mitsuko glanced down at him, lowering her fist to her side. "What was_ that_ for?" he demanded, his brown eyes narrowed.

"It's not nice to sneak up on people when they're talking. Next time I might hit you a little harder." She stopped walking, reaching out to ruffle his spiky hair. "Have a good day at school, little brother."

He lowered his hands, crossing his arms across the front of his uniform. "Only if you promise to be nice to Lacuna today."

The white-haired teen had caught up with them, and at this declaration he laughed nervously, hurrying past Mitsuko to reach Mai's side. "That really isn't necessary," he remarked, his voice unsteady. "But thanks..."

"I'll be nice if I want to be nice." Mitsuko gave her younger brother one final pat on the shoulder, ignoring Lacuna. "Now get going," she said, turning to walk away. "Don't be late."

"Hmrph." Kyou started down the road that led to his junior high, his arms still crossed. "I don't know what he sees in you," he muttered, just loud enough for Mitsuko to hear - but she ignored that too, making a mental note to yell at him later. He definitely knew more than he needed to. Why had she said anything at all to anyone...?

* * *

><p>Lacuna, perhaps inevitably, made the entire first half of Monday exceedingly difficult for Mitsuko. Although she'd stalked off to their classroom without him, and he hadn't spoken a word to her during homeroom, they'd been forced into a group activity together during English class, and their ten minutes together were tense at best. He had looked sad and she was torn between feeling guilty and furious, and when he'd ended their session with a whispered "I'm sorry," she had ignored him, staring down at her work so fiercely that she thought she might burn a hole through the paper with her eyes. During math she'd drifted off into thoughts about how to best handle the situation, and ended up missing part of that day's lesson. She'd cursed to herself, noting that she would need to get Lacuna's notes later - and that made her even angrier.<p>

When the bell rang to start the lunch period she breathed out a long sigh of relief, knowing she finally had an opportunity to get away: Kirie had asked her to go to Mai's classroom and speak to Aiha, setting up the meeting between the former Watcher and the nervous first-year student. She casually tossed her math book into her desk and started to rise, but before she could leave her seat, a hand covered one of hers. "Mitsuko," she heard Lacuna say, quietly, "will you hear me out for a minute...?"

"No."

He sounded shocked. "Mi - Mitsuko - "

"I have to go see Mai." She rose from her seat, avoiding his surprised gaze as she easily drew her hand away from his. "If you have something to say, either wait until I get back or come along with me."

"Then - " He stood, abruptly, shoving his chair back with one hand. "I'll go with you. I need to say this."

"Suit yourself." She walked up the row and slid open the door of their classroom, stepping out into the hallway. She was halfway to the stairs that led to the second floor, where Mai's classroom was, when she heard his footsteps behind her, then at her side. "So," she remarked, without looking at him, "you have about a minute to talk before I run out of patience with you - "

"Listen. I know I made a really big mistake." He didn't hesitate, and his words were clear, though somewhat emotional. "I'm sorry that I ... did that. I'm sorry that I upset you. I fucked up, okay?" At this he exhaled, loudly, and out of the corner of her eye she saw him shake his head. "Not hearing from you over the weekend was punishment enough. But for you to act so cold towards me now..."

She felt herself twitch slightly at this comment. "Cold? I'm being cold?"

He lowered his voice. "You walked right by me this morning when I said hello. Was what I did really that bad?"

"Are you kidding me? Of _course_ it was that bad, idiot." She clenched her fists together, fighting hard to keep her voice from raising as they walked by several classrooms full of students beginning their lunch period. The hallway was empty at the moment, but she knew it would only take one unexpected move or shout for someone to overhear their conversation. "We have a_ lot_ more to worry about right now. And if it wasn't clear by my reaction, I didn't like being kissed."

"I thought you..." He sounded dejected. "... felt something for me."

"Does it even _matter_ what I feel? That's not the issue! What made you think it would be okay for you to grab me and kiss me like that?" She whirled around to face him, abruptly stopping in the middle of the hallway. "Life isn't some stupid manga where you kiss a girl and she automatically falls in love with you. If you'd just told me what you were thinking instead of doing something out of the blue like that - "

He interrupted her, frowning as he came to a stop in front of her. "I was _trying_ - "

"Did you ever think that you could have just _asked_ me how I felt?" She continued speaking, raising her voice to talk over him, now not caring if anyone heard. The words flowed out easily, a result of being suppressed within her mind for most of the weekend. "Maybe, instead of kissing me out of nowhere, you could have asked for permission?"

"What does it matter? Wouldn't your reaction have been the same anyway?"

"No!" she shot back, and at the immediate widening of Lacuna's blue eyes, the realization of what she'd said struck her like a punch. Her heart gave a solid thump in her chest, and she suddenly was unable to speak without struggling. "I mean," she started, "it would have been - weird - if you had actually asked, but ... but - "

He sounded awed. "You would have... let me?"

"I didn't say that!" She smacked him in the arm, avoiding making eye contact with him. "I," she started again, slowly, "don't want you to think that I hate you... but... because you did something so rash, and didn't go about it in the right way..."

"You're mad at me, right?"

"A little." She finally looked up again, uncomfortable, and folded her arms across the front of her uniform. "Not only because you didn't tell me the truth about the person you liked, but also because you... assumed... that I would be okay with you doing what you did." She paused, watching the expression on his face change from surprise to something that seemed sad, and right away she felt guilty. "But I guess it was an easy mistake to make," she added, softly, "considering I spent all of Friday... you know... with you."

"It still didn't give me the right to do that." He took a step forward, reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," he said, earnestly, nodding once. "I did make a mistake. And I know that I hurt you. I promise I won't do it again."

"... you mean that, right?"

"Yes." He nodded again. "I think now's probably not the time to go into this any further, but - "

"Now's not the time to go into this at all." She frowned up at him. "We need to get down to Mai's classroom. If you really want to... talk..." She felt her cheeks flush and abruptly shifted her gaze away from his. "... we can do that later, after school. I need more time to sort out what I'm thinking, anyway."

"As long as you're not going to yell at me..."

"I've done enough yelling." She let out a sigh, watching as he drew his hand back from her shoulder. "And it's easier to forgive you, anyway. It takes too much energy to be mad."

"Hmm, so that means that if I kiss you enough times, you'll stop being mad - "

"Stop it." She tightened one hand into a fist and gently punched him on the chin, making a face up at him. "I just said that you were forgiven, Lacuna. Don't make me take that back."

"But you're so cute when you're angry." He sounded amused now, and before she could cross her arms again, he caught her hand in his own. As she watched, he lifted it to his mouth and placed a soft kiss on her wrist, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief as she drew in a sharp breath. "Does that count as a surprise kiss?" he asked. "Or is that okay?"

One of her eyebrows twitched. "I am going to murder you where you stand, Lacuna Rutherford."

He grinned, apparently now completely recovered. "And you are going to be downright adorable while you do it."

"For god's sake..." the brunette started, ready to berate him again, but the sound of a door opening at the end of the hallway - at the top of the steps - caused both students to draw back from each other, caught off guard. They both turned to see who was coming, and much to Mitsuko's surprise, Asazuki Mai walked through the doorway. "Mai-chan?" Mitsuko queried, and the younger girl's green eyes immediately widened. "What are you doing up here?" she called.

"You guys didn't come down, so I came up. And I should be asking you the same question." Mai rolled her green eyes dramatically as she made her way down the hallway to stand beside Lacuna. "Did you fight it out yet?" she asked as she arrived beside her two friends. "Kiss and make up?"

"... sort of." Lacuna cast a glance down at Mitsuko, who immediately felt herself blush. "Besides that," he continued, and she noticed his own face beginning to take on a pink hue, "did you come up here to find us? Aren't we supposed to be talking to Aiha-chan?"

"Yeah, about that..." The black-haired girl frowned. "She's gone."

Lacuna and Mitsuko spoke in unison. "_Gone?_"

"She didn't show up for class this morning. Our homeroom teacher said she was withdrawn." Mai paused, and in the brief silence, Lacuna reached into the back pocket of his uniform pants and pulled out his cell phone. Both girls watched as he turned on the screen and quickly navigated through the menus to reach a shortcut for Tsuchiya Kirie's phone number. "Sensei didn't say anything else," Mai continued, glancing over at Mitsuko, "but maybe that's because nobody asked. I don't think she had any friends..."

"We need to let Kirie know." Lacuna tapped a button on his phone's screen to begin a phone call, then another option to place the call on speaker. He held the phone out in front of him, and as the three students crowded around, listening to the sound of the call trying to connect, the white-haired teen sounded grim. "She told me what the plan was. If someone interfered..."

There was a click as they were connected to Tsuchiya Kirie. Lacuna spoke immediately, before she even had a chance to say hello. "Kirie, Yazawa Aiha was - "

"Withdrawn. Don't bother. I already know." There was a loud crackle of static on the line as Kirie sighed. "I'm glad you called, but I found out for myself. I called this morning to verify her enrollment, posing as a cram school, and they told me she was no longer enrolled at Tsukiomi. She was withdrawn this morning before classes began."

"Just this morning?" Mitsuko leaned closer to the phone, frowning. "Who withdrew her? Her mother?"

"Her uncle." At this the brunette's eyebrows shot up, and a quick glance at Lacuna and Mai confirmed that they, too, had done the math: Aiha's uncle, if he existed - on her mother's side, at least - would have been one of the original Blade Children. "_Supposedly_ he's her legal guardian," Kirie continued, annoyance creeping into her voice, "though of course they couldn't tell me anything else due to security reasons, or something."

Mai was strangely quiet when she spoke. "Do you think that's the truth?"

"I hope not. For one, there aren't supposed to be any other Blade Children in Japan. The only others who remained alive mostly fled the country before they turned twenty. I only know of one in Japan aside from your parents and Eyes - and Rio, right now. There are three others in America, but I keep tabs on them, and they don't have any kids." She sighed again. "Secondly, if there was a Blade Child in Japan who could be Aiha-chan's uncle, that would just add another level of complication to this whole thing. Now we not only have to worry about whether or not this kid really is Yazawa Mie's daughter... but also who is really tugging at the puppet strings."

Mitsuko swallowed. "Do you think she's in danger?"

"It's hard to say." Kirie paused for a moment, and in the background Mitsuko heard what sounded like the rumble of a car's engine. "I have to go. But if anything else comes up, call me. And don't do anything stupid."

Lacuna answered cheerfully. "We won't - "

"That goes double for you, kid."

"H - hey!"

There was the sound of a short laugh, and then the line abruptly went dead. Lacuna pouted as he switched off his phone's screen, sliding the device into the back pocket of his pants again. Mitsuko shook her head at him, rolling her eyes, before turning to Mai. "So now what?" the black-haired girl asked her friend, reaching up to adjust her glasses on her nose. "Do we just act like this never even happened?"

"Someone took Aiha-chan out of school for a reason. Maybe her uncle is a real person, and he found out that someone was blackmailing her into leaving those notes." The brunette placed two fingers to her chin, frowning. "Or her uncle isn't her uncle at all - and she was withdrawn by someone who has bad intentions..."

Lacuna sounded thoughtful. "Do you have any way of finding out who her guardian is?"

"Hmm... I can try. But after the last time I got into Tsukiomi's system, they beefed up their security. Their passwords were fairly easy to crack before, considering they never changed them away from the default values. So I'd have to start from scratch again..."

"Can you fix my grades while you're in there?"

Mitsuko fixed Mai with a stern look. "No."

"Aw, man..."

"Kirie wouldn't approve of this, but if we can find out who her guardian is, maybe we can find out what happened to her." The white-haired teen nodded. "So that's our first step. Secondly..." He paused. "Is there a second step?"

"Not yet." The brunette cracked her knuckles. "But once I get into that system, I'm sure we'll come up with something."

* * *

><p>"<em>This<em> is why you wanted to skip our club meeting today?"

"I never said it was a good excuse." Lacuna grinned as he looked down at Mitsuko, who only sighed. The two teenagers were standing outside of an ice cream shop - the same ice cream shop where they had ended up on Friday afternoon, at the start of the weekend's Blade Children-related chaos. After the end of the day's classes, Lacuna had insisted to Mitsuko that they forego that day's club activities because there was something else he wanted to do instead. She'd initially objected to this, because she had wanted to start her attempt into cracking Tsukiomi's online records system, and they also needed to start on the next issue of the school newspaper... but something told her she would have a hard time concentrating on either task, anyway. "Since we came here last week, I've had a wicked craving for a root beer float," the white-haired teen commented, taking a step forward to push open the door. "And Pierre-san makes the best floats _ever_."

"You are really something else..." Mitsuko followed him inside, rolling her eyes. "You just found out the truth about the Blade Children, our only source of information has gone missing, and all you can think about is_ ice cream_?"

"Sometimes I just have to take my mind off of the really serious things to function, you know?" He gave her a smile over one shoulder before dropping his bag on a chair by a table. "Do you want anything? My treat."

"Hmm..." She moved to the chair on the other side of the table, bending to place her messenger bag on the floor before seating herself. "Make it two floats, I guess."

"You got it!"

He bounded off to the counter, where the plump shop owner Mitsuko had seen on Friday greeted him with a loud "hello!" and a wide smile. The two of them began conversing quickly in French, and as they talked excitedly with each other, the brunette placed her chin in her hands and looked around the shop. The only other customers present today were a middle-aged woman with two small girls at a table with her - presumably her daughters, as they all had straight auburn hair. The youngest of the two girls was messily eating an ice cream cone, and the woman helpfully wiped at the little girl's mouth with a napkin, laughing softly. The scene made Mitsuko smile, thinking of times that she'd watched her mother and father take care of Kyou in such a way... and they would repeat it again, soon, once the baby was born. She would be old enough to help, this time around, having only been seven when her brother came into the picture. She was excited for her mother and father, who had been wanting a third child for a long time, and looked forward to having a little girl to dote on and dress up. "Only a few more weeks," she murmured to herself, looking away from the happy family. "I wonder which name they'll decide on..."

Her eyes drifted back to the counter, where Lacuna was now handing over a bill to the shop owner. The two were still speaking in French, and Mitsuko watched her friend's expression change from surprise to a wide smile at something the older man had said, his eyes creasing as he laughed. Lacuna had always been expressive, almost to the point of dramatic, and as a child his face had always given away what he was feeling before he spoke a single word. She'd wondered for quite some time how he had become that way, considering how stoic and unexpressive Eyes Rutherford was... but the facial expressions that Tsuchiya Kirie sometimes pulled probably explained that. Lacuna's not-quite-stepmother had undoubtedly contributed to the shaping of his personality; had she not been present, Mitsuko guessed that her friend would have become a very different person.

"Here we go!" Lacuna turned from the counter and walked back to the table, giving his companion a bright smile as he approached, a frosty mug of ice cream and root beer held in each hand. He placed one in front of Mitsuko and the other on his side of the table, then plucked two straws from the pocket of his uniform pants and placed them down as well. "These look awesome," he remarked, moving his backpack to the floor before sliding into his chair. "I haven't had root beer since we lived in America for a while. I used to drink it like water... well, until Kirie made me stop, anyway."

She smiled a little, picking up a straw and ripping off the edge of the paper cover. "What was it like?"

"What? Living in America?" He lifted a spoon from where it had been resting on the table and stuck it into the ice cream that floated on the top of the liquid in his glass. "It was interesting. New York City is a really busy place, almost like Tokyo, but for different reasons. My dad was really popular there, at the time - his music was in a movie or two - so he got recognized everywhere he went. We lived a pretty luxurious lifestyle for the couple months that we were there. But... I don't want to go back."

Mitsuko leaned forward to take a sip from the mug. "Why?" she asked, after swallowing a mouthful of root beer.

"For one thing, speaking English is a pain in the ass. And I have an accent, so before Kirie switched me back to a private tutor, I got picked on in school. So that was kind of lame. Secondly, in America, pretty much everybody drives everywhere. The sound of cars and trucks sometimes kept me up all night." He scooped up a mouthful of ice cream, swallowed, then smiled again. "I sleep way better back here, even better than in the countryside in England. Japan just feels like home to me."

"I couldn't imagine leaving like you did." She took another drink of root beer, this time poking at the ice cream with her straw in an attempt to break it up into the drink. "Even if my family was with me... it would be hard to leave everything familiar to me."

"Hard..." Lacuna's face suddenly darkened. "Yes... for me, it was hard. But my father felt it was necessary... and he still does, to some extent."

"... what's wrong? What do you mean?"

"On Saturday night... and actually last night, too... my dad was talking about moving back to England." He frowned, looking away. "This whole thing with the notes about the Blade Children... it really has him shaken up more than I realized. He and Kirie both want to get away from it."

"But..." She felt the beginning of a lump forming in her throat. "But you just got back here. It hasn't even been a month..."

"I know that." His voice softened. "Believe me, I know. All I wanted was to come back here and live a normal life. But now that all this has happened, and so soon after we got back... my dad and Kirie both told me they were worried about the possibility of Hunters, or somebody else trying to make trouble for us. It's why we left Japan before, and why they're thinking about leaving again now..."

"But what good would going back to England do?"

"That's exactly what _I_ said!" He hit the table with his fist, shaking their glasses and causing Mitsuko to jump a little in her chair. He lifted his head to look at her again, blinking, then smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But it's just so frustrating. If a Hunter really wanted me dead, wouldn't they follow me no matter where I went? What's going to stop someone from tracking me down in some other country?"

"Is it really you they're after, though?" The brunette fiddled with the straw in her glass, lowering her eyes to the surface of the table. "Those postcards were addressed to me. And Aiha-chan said she was told to leave them for me, not for you or Mai-chan. If someone is trying to start trouble, it's with me... so why would you be the one leaving?"

His voice was soft. "Are your parents worried?"

"Yes. In fact, I'm supposed to go straight home once I leave school, now. Papa said I'm not allowed out unsupervised anymore. So technically... I'm breaking the rules, right now." She sighed. "But my parents both think the person leaving the notes through Aiha-chan probably wouldn't try to harm me. They wanted to make me aware of the Blade Children. We just don't know who, or why..."

"Well," he started, "if someone _did_ try to make trouble, you do still have me as your bodyguard - "

"Funny." She rolled her eyes, rolling up the discarded paper from her straw and tossing it at him. "You'd be the least effective bodyguard in history, right behind my uncle in his ridiculous panda costumes."

"... panda costumes?"

"That's a story for another time." She watched him pick up the straw paper and toss it from hand to hand, thinking for a moment. "Couldn't you stay?" she asked, softly. "If your parents decided to leave again... I mean, you'll be a legal adult before too long, and I'm sure you could manage on your own."

"I guess." He shrugged. "Truthfully, I did consider that. But my dad's not just thinking about himself. He's thinking about me, too." He paused, his eyebrows drawing together. "But at the same time... if we ran away so easily every time something happened, I would spend my whole life running away." He glanced at her, then at his drink. "And if something happened to you while I was gone, Mitzi... I would never be able to forgive myself."

"Don't be stupid," she said, automatically, but the protective note to his voice somehow made her feel... happy? She shifted in her chair, trying to ignore that thought, instead focusing on stirring the ice cream further into her glass. "Mai would be pretty upset if you left," she murmured after a pause. "You've only just found out that you're cousins, not to mention the only two second generation Blade Children in existence... she may not act like it, but I know she needs you right now."

His words came out gentle, almost sweet. "What about you?"

"What - what _about_ me?" She fought to ignore the blush warming her cheeks, keeping her eyes fixed on the glass. "You've been gone for years. I'm used to it."

"You wouldn't care at all if I left?"

"I didn't say that. Don't put words in my mouth." She lifted her head to glare at him. "I'd be... upset. And I'd probably fail English. And I'd be pissed off if I had to go back to doing the newspaper by myself." At the sign of a slight smile on his face, she felt herself relax, the anger falling out of her words. "Of_ course_ I would care. I'd probably be pretty upset."

"Yeah?"

"Just - just because you're my friend." She lifted her glass and took a long drink of her float, trying not to look at him. "Don't get any more stupid ideas."

"Any _more_?" He laughed. "What stupid ideas have I already had?"

"Several." She placed the mug back on the table, drawing in a breath before raising her eyes to his again - but much to her surprise, he was smiling, his chin propped up in one hand, looking at her as if he'd anticipated her every move. Her face warmed all over again, and she clenched her hands into tight fists, unable to keep herself from becoming irritated. "What - why are you so happy, Lacuna?"

"I was thinking, yesterday, that it probably doesn't make sense to pretend around you." He tilted his head slightly, resting his cheek against his palm, still smiling. "You probably know everything. But that's fine. As long as I can be around you, that's all that matters."

"... stupid." She whipped her head away, curls smacking into the side of her face, but as soon as her head was turned she felt the touch of a hand against her wrist. She looked back, surprised, and saw that he had reached across the table to touch her. As she watched, he gently pried apart her clenched fingers, a soft laugh escaping from between his lips. "What are you doing?" she asked, unsure whether to be angry or embarrassed.

"You get upset too easily." He unfolded her fist and pressed his fingers to her palm, flattening her hand on the table. "Isn't it kind of silly to get so worked up over something like this? With everything else going on, you're getting upset because of something I said?"

She swallowed, trying to speak without stuttering. "I - it's just because - " Her voice dropped. "You're the one who - kissed me. You're the one who's not focused on what's going on, not me."

"That may be true." His fingertips traced a line down her palm to her wrist, to the place he had kissed it earlier, and she shivered, caught off guard. "But it's nice, isn't it? To have a distraction..."

"I'm a distraction?"

"No." He smiled again, drumming his fingers against her skin. "But when I'm thinking about the way you smiled at me, or something nice you said, or how I got to do something like this..." Her eyes widened and he laughed, a little sheepishly, lifting his free hand to brush a few strands of white hair away from his forehead. "That's a good distraction. I didn't plan on it, but I'm already feeling this way about you..."

She stared at his hand on her arm, unsure what to do or say, suddenly aware of the way her heartbeat had quickened. Somewhere behind her, she heard the sound of the bell on the shop's door jangling, and she swallowed hard, wondering how this scene would look to someone else. Surely someone coming in would think that she and Lacuna were in the middle of a romantic conversation... and would they be very far off from the truth? She knew she had been right - that the girl he had talked about liking for a long time was her - but she hadn't been prepared to hear him say it, or act on his emotions. The idea that her childhood friend had developed feelings for her was a little terrifying, if only because she didn't know how to respond. If it had been anyone else she would have shot back some witty insult and left the ice cream shop, but because it was Lacuna...

Because it was Lacuna... that made things different, somehow. She drew in a breath, slowly, trying to calm herself down before responding. The reality of this situation - what she'd thought about over the weekend, curled up in her bed on Sunday morning - was that she didn't know how she felt, didn't know how to react. When Lacuna was around her... was it really just a matter of friendship? Were they simply childhood friends, or something more?

She exhaled, trying hard not to be nervous, raising her head. Lacuna's blue eyes followed her every move, and although he still smiled, the expression had weakened, as if he, too, was fighting to be calm. "I don't," she started, hearing a tremor in her voice, "know what to say to you, or what to do about this. Right now, I - "

"Excuse me," came a soft voice, from the side of their table, and both teenagers looked up in unison to see the form of a slender teenage girl with long black hair and wide gray eyes. It was Yazawa Aiha - and clutched in her hands was a wide white envelope. At the sign of instant shock on the faces of Lacuna and Mitsuko, the girl seemed to tremble, looking away from the table. "I - I didn't mean to interrupt, but I had to..."

"A - " Mitsuko started to rise from her seat, her eyes widening. "_Aiha - !_"

"Please," the dark-haired girl said quickly, her voice hushed, "don't draw any attention - or - or make a scene - "

"We won't." Lacuna's hand was still on Mitsuko's wrist, and he gently tugged on it, nodding at her chair. She hesitated, but slowly sat back down, quieting, allowing the white-haired teen to speak as she listened to the sound of her own heartbeat throbbing in her ears. "Are you in danger?" he asked Aiha, speaking quietly. "When you disappeared from Tsukiomi today, we were all worried."

"I'm fine." She paused, looking from Lacuna to Mitsuko, then abruptly bowed deeply. "I'm very sorry to have caused you so much trouble. It wasn't my intention to do so..."

"We know that." Mitsuko leaned closer to the younger girl as she straightened from her bow, drawing in a breath. "Aiha-chan... the messages you were leaving us... did you know what they were?"

"I know now." Aiha's gray eyes darted away. "But I can't - I'm not supposed to - "

"Aiha-chan. We're alike, you and me. Right?" Lacuna lifted his hand from Mitsuko's, reaching out to touch the dark-haired girl's arm, but she immediately jerked away from his touch. His gaze turned sympathetic, and he tried again, this time successfully placing his fingers against the curve of her forearm. "We're the same," he said, softly, "and I know that you know it. The secret that you were hiding was that you were one of the Blade Children, right?"

She trembled. "You aren't supposed to talk about that - about the curse..."

"Then it's true." Mitsuko couldn't help but speak up. "Your mother is Yazawa Mie?" At the girl's abrupt nod, she pressed on, frowning slightly. "Was she the one making you leave the messages for me? Or was it someone else? If you're in danger - "

"I can't talk about that!" Aiha's eyes had grown enormous, and she shook her head rapidly, clutching the envelope between her hands tight enough to crease it. Mitsuko exchanged a concerned glance with Lacuna, but before either of them could speak again, the white envelope was deposited on the table in between them. "I have to go," the dark-haired girl uttered, pulling her arm free of Lacuna's grasp, "but this is the last message that I am supposed to leave. This is for - for Rutherford-sempai."

"Eh?" Lacuna blinked. "For me?"

"This is the last one. Now it's over..." Aiha took a step back, wringing her hands, her eyes darting from Lacuna to Mitsuko. "I - I can be free now - of this - "

"Aiha-chan, if you stay here, we can help you..." Mitsuko leaned toward the girl, swallowing hard, fighting to keep her voice low. "My parents can help. My father is a detective, and he knows many of the police officers around here. If you're in danger, there's no question as to whether or not someone can protect you. I can call someone - "

"It's useless."

"What - "

"I can't be saved." Aiha's voice dropped suddenly in pitch, almost becoming dangerous, and the sound of it sent a chill down the brunette's spine. "It's too late for me," the girl said, speaking evenly for the first time, "but it doesn't matter. Because now I am free."

Lacuna began to stand. "Aiha-chan - "

"Goodbye," she uttered, and in an instant she had bolted for the door of the ice cream shop. Before either teenager could react she was gone, and Mitsuko caught only a brief glimpse of her fleeing figure as she ran out the door and past the front window. The brunette sat still, open-mouthed, hearing the girl's words again -_ it doesn't matter, because now I am free_ - and she shivered. Just what had she meant by that? Why couldn't she have been saved...?

"That was kind of freaky." Lacuna dropped back into his chair, shaking his head. "Something is definitely going on..."

"Should we go after her?"

"I don't think so." He looked down at the envelope that had been placed on the table. "But we should call your dad and have the police start looking for her. Even if she doesn't want protection, it's clear that she needs someone to look after her."

Mitsuko swallowed hard. "But why did she say that she was... free?"

"Who knows..." He lifted the document in one hand, raising an eyebrow at her as he did so. "Should I open this?"

"I guess. It's yours, isn't it?" She reached to the floor for her bag, digging around for her cell phone as he tore open the envelope. She watched him as he retrieved a folded note from within, and as he unfolded the sheet of paper, looked away in an attempt to locate the missing device. She finally found it beneath one of her textbooks, and as she straightened back up in her chair, opening her mouth to mutter some complaint about things never being where they should be, she saw that her friend's face had suddenly turned very pale. "What is it?" she asked, leaning forward. "You're as white as a sheet!"

"It's a letter," he answered, his blue eyes fixed on the paper in his hands, and all at once his fingers started to shake. "It's in French."

She blinked, placing her phone on the table. "Who's it from?"

He looked up at her, at the sheet, and then again at her. When he answered her, his voice was emotional and unsteady. "Another one of the Blade Children."

There was a long silence as the brunette's mouth fell open and she stared at him, completely at a loss for words. Lacuna's eyes lingered on hers for a moment before returning to the sheet, and she watched him read the letter twice before it was placed down on the table. She could see that it was written entirely in French, but before she could ask him to translate, he did it for her. "It says," he began, speaking quietly, "that she has been looking for me for a long time. Her name is Sarah Hilbert." He paused, his lips trembling. "And..."

"And... what?"

When the next few words left his mouth, Mitsuko thought she might faint. "And she's my sister."


	12. boys and girls

"Lacuna... Lacuna! What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" The white-haired teenager looked over his shoulder at Mitsuko as he stuck his keys into the front door of the Rutherford household, his blue eyes sharp and focused on her as she approached. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this. There's a phone number on that letter, and I'm going to call it."

Mitsuko exhaled heavily, watching Lacuna's hands manipulate the lock and push open the door. After reading aloud part of the letter he'd received from Aiha, he'd suddenly stood and bolted out of the ice cream shop, forgetting his bag. The brunette had groaned, but she'd had no choice but to follow him; she had returned their barely touched float glasses to the shop owner, apologizing profusely before scooping up both of their bags and jogging out of the shop. She hadn't caught up to him until he was already at the front of his house, digging his keys out of his pocket and moving to unlock the door. As she stood on the steps behind him, breathing heavily, she regretted not spending more time running with Mai: her lungs burned and her legs felt heavy, and something told her she was too out of shape to spend her time chasing him down the sidewalk. "You forgot your bag," she managed, her eyes moving to the backpack slung over one of her shoulders. "And that guy - Pierre-san - was worried - "

"Sorry." His dismissive tone immediately ticked her off, but she kept her mouth closed as she followed him into the front room. He closed the door behind her and bent to untie his sneakers, and she followed suit, slipping her feet out of her loafers before dropping both of their bags to the ground. "I have to do this, though," he continued, reaching into the pocket of his uniform pants and pulling out the folded letter. "It should be... around nine in the morning, right now, in Paris. I'm going to call."

"Aren't you going to tell your parents?"

"No way." He straightened, fixing her with a determined gaze. "I'm going to figure this one out myself."

She sucked in a deep breath, then frowned at him. "I don't think that's a good - "

"Do you really think it's possible that my father didn't know my sister existed?" He spoke over her, and she heard something in his voice that was almost frightening - something that was a mix between anger and confusion and excitement. "I'll read you the full letter. But she was taken to the same orphanage as I was. She's barely a year older than me. My father adopted me, but not her. Why?"

"You're... speculating, right now..." She reached for the paper in his hand, but he jerked it away, as if he was frightened. They stared at each other for a moment, unmoving, until she let out a sigh, her shoulders slumping. "Okay. _Fine._ Read me the damn letter."

"Not here." He suddenly grabbed her hand, causing her to let out a shriek. He practically dragged her to the door that led out of the entranceway, and upon coming through the hallway, Takeuchi Rio appeared in front of them, apparently on her way to the kitchen. The gray-haired woman blinked up at both teenagers, and Lacuna seemed to falter for a moment, but then he beamed at her. "Hi, auntie," he said in English; then, switching back to Japanese, "Mitzi and I have something to do. You don't leave for the airport until tomorrow morning, right?"

"Anou..." Rio looked from her nephew to the brunette, blinking a few times. "Lacuna, what is going on? Mitsuko-chan looks terrified."

"Nothing!" He tugged on Mitsuko's hand and she yelped as he continued to pull her along out of the hallway and in the direction of the stairs to the second floor. "We'll be in my room," he called over his shoulder, cheerfully. "But knock if you need something! Don't just come barging in!"

"You two have that kind of relationship already...?"

The brunette's face burned immediately. "This isn't what it looks like!" she called back to Rio, but it was too late: the gray-haired woman was already giggling, her gray eyes practically twinkling as she watched Lacuna drag Mitsuko up the stairs. "Damn it," the teenager cursed, glaring at where her hand was being held hostage in Lacuna's, stomping her feet as they made it to the second floor landing. "If you could just _wait_ a second, Lacuna - !"

"No time." He led her to his bedroom, where he finally released her hand long enough to slide open the door. He entered and she reluctantly followed, knowing full well that if she didn't, he would just drag her inside anyway. She watched him close the door, then move to his computer chair and drop into it. "Here," he said, shoving aside his keyboard and mouse to make room for the paper in his hands, which he unfolded and placed in the empty spot. "Come over here. I'll read you the whole thing."

She folded her arms, giving him a skeptical look. "Don't you think this might be a fake?"

"It's not a fake. I can't believe that it's a fake." He lifted his eyes to hers, and for a moment the fervor that had seized him seem to die down, his expression softening. "Please, just... listen to me, okay? I want to get to the bottom of this one myself. I know you think this isn't how we should handle it, but..."

"... I'm listening." She crossed the room to his desk, however reluctantly, and leaned against it, looking down at the typed note in front of them. "Go ahead."

Lacuna cleared his throat, smoothing the paper once with his hands, and then began to translate:

"Dear Lacuna: I am sure that this letter will take you by surprise. However, it has become necessary to send it. My name is Sarah Hilbert. I am a resident of Paris, France, and I am nineteen years old. I have been seeking you for the last three years. Recently, I finally gained the information I was seeking - your location - by way of mail sent to you about the Blade Children."

Mitsuko's eyebrows shot up. "Then - she was the one who sent the postcards?"

"Sounds like it." He continued reading. "I apologize, because I know that these messages may have alarmed you. Until I began this letter, I did not realize the possibility that you may not have known the truth about the Blade Children. But I wanted to send messages that would not have any meaning to anyone but us. When they were successfully delivered, I knew I had finally located you. That is why I have sent this letter." He paused for a moment, swallowing, and his voice trembled occasionally as he translated the next few sentences for her. "Thirteen years ago, I was delivered to an orphanage after my mother disappeared. I was entrusted with some of her personal possessions, which I did not receive until my foster mother passed away. Upon reviewing her possessions, I learned the truth about the Blade Children. I also learned that you are my half-brother."

"Half..."

"We share the same mother. Your father is Eyes Rutherford, and mine Kanone Hilbert." Lacuna lifted his eyes to Mitsuko's after reading this line. "So she's my half-sister... but slightly more, considering we have the same grandfather, too..."

The brunette nervously reached up to twirl the ends of her hair around her fingers. "Kanone Hilbert was the one that Mai-chan said was... the one who tried to kill her parents... But he died..."

"Yes. But this..." He pointed at the letter, resuming his translation. "My father never knew of my existence, and had it not been for the intervention of fate, your father would have never known of yours. Our mother created us, artifically, using acquired DNA samples. She intended to raise us to become the second generation of Blade Children. But she vanished before my sixth birthday, and we were taken to an orphanage together."

"So - then - "

"Then she's probably dead after all." The white-haired teen's voice was oddly flat. "Even suspecting that... I was created in such a way... I had hoped that she..." His room was silent for a moment, his fingers lightly drumming along the middle of the paper, but then he shook his head and resumed reading. "I do not have enough time or space to explain everything to you. I also fear that this letter may be too revealing, should it be captured by someone who is uninvolved. But I wish to speak with you, and to know all about the brother I have no memory of. Please, I beg you - you must make contact with me." He glanced up. "And then she lists her phone number. It's signed "Sarah Hilbert.""

"Sarah Hilbert," she repeatedly, softly. "Sarah is a German name... it makes sense."

"Yeah." He skimmed his fingers across the bottom of the note, across the phone number printed there. "Meaning my - our mother - gave us both names that matched our heritage, to some extent." His eyes lifted to hers again. "Mitsuko... I know you're wary of this. I know you want to tell my parents. But if what is in this letter is true, Sarah and I were at the same orphanage. We were abandoned at the same time. My father adopted me, and she was raised by someone else - because she talks about a foster mother. I want to get to the bottom of this."

"You think that your father left her behind...?"

"If Kanone Hilbert was a murderer - tried to kill him - why wouldn't he?" His voice had turned cold. "He wouldn't want that man's daughter. He would only want me. What - what if - " He turned his head away, covering his face with one trembling hand. "What if what they told me was a lie - that he _did_ know of my existence, that he chose to adopt me, and not - not her - ?"

"Stop it." Mitsuko moved to stand in front of him, and she reached out, grabbing both of his wrists in her hands. He immediately shifted his gaze to her, visibly startled, and she shook her head, hard. "You're speculating. _Stop it_. If you want to know the truth so badly, then call her. Ask her to tell you everything you want to know. But if you insist on calling her, you have to promise me that you will involve your father." She bent over, locking eyes with him, tightening her grip on his wrists. "This could be a trap. This could be a lie. Don't assume you know anything until you've found the truth. So, promise me that you will involve your father and Kirie-san."

He sounded awed. "Mi - Mitsuko..."

"Promise me."

"I promise." He blinked, looking at where his wrist was held in one of her hands. "I... okay. I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize. Just... slow down before you get worked up over something that may not even be real." She released him and straightened, crossing her arms. "So - are you going to call?"

"Oh." He blinked, as if he was coming out of a daze. "I... yes. I am." He stood, reaching into the back pocket of his uniform pants and digging out his cell phone. She watched as he slowly dialed the phone number that appeared on the letter on his desk, his eyes moving back and forth between the paper and the screen of the device in his hand. When he finished pressing the final number in the sequence, there was a long pause, his eyes fixed on the screen; suddenly he thrust the phone into Mitsuko's hands, his voice waivering. "I can't do it. You call her."

"Me?" She stared at him. "She's _your_ sister!"

"But - what if - "

"What if _what_?"

"Just - just call her and tell her you got the letter or - or that you got her notes and - " He turned, beginning to pace the length of his bedroom, and the brunette watched, dumbfounded. He had gone from determined to intimidated in only a few minutes. "What am I even supposed to say to her?" he asked, lifting a hand to rub his forehead. "Hey, it's your long-lost brother, sorry my dad left you there and took me to Japan?"

"Oh my god, Lacuna." Mitsuko groaned, then looked down at the phone in her hand, her gaze fixed on the number that appeared on the screen. "Well," she murmured, "if you're not going to do it..."

He suddenly spun around. "Wait!"

"Too late." She pressed the button to connect the call and lifted the phone to her ear, unable to keep from smirking at the horrified expression on his face. She heard a series of beeps, then a soft "click" followed by a ringing sound. "It's trying to connect," she remarked, watching him cover his mouth with his hands. "But I hope you're not waking somebody up in the middle of the night."

"I really, really hope this isn't a bad idea," he said, his words muffled. "I really, really, really, really hope this works."

"We'll find out in a min - " There was a loud "click" in the brunette's ear, and she froze, surprised, realizing that she hadn't expected anyone to answer. "Oh," she said, her voice barely a whisper, "I think someone picked up..."

The voice that met Mitsuko's ears was sweet and melodic. "Bonjour, comment puis-je vous aider?"

"... Lacuna." The brunette covered the mouthpiece of the phone with her free hand, hissing at her companion. "I don't speak French."

"Ohhhh shit. Um - " He took a tentative step in her direction. "Say - say "je suis a la recherche - ""

"I CAN'T PRONOUNCE THAT."

"Allo?" The person on the line appeared to have heard some of the conversation. "Qui est-ce?"

Mitsuko groaned, lifting her hand. "Hello," she tried, in English, hoping she would get lucky. "I am calling for Sarah Hilbert."

There was a pause, and then the person on the other end of the line drew in a sharp breath. "Qui est-ce?" she asked again, and her voice was more urgent this time, perhaps even fearful. "Qu'est-ce que tu veux?"

"Umm..." She glanced up at Lacuna, who shrugged, his blue eyes wide as he watched her struggle. "My name is Mitsuko Narumi," she tried, trying hard to remember her English. "My friend was... mailed... a letter..."

"Mi - Mitsuko-san?"

This time it was the brunette who gasped, caught completely off guard. She drew the phone away from her ear, looked at it, looked at Lacuna, then brought it back. "Yes," she said, cautiously, slowly, switching back to Japanese. "Do you speak - "

The voice that came to her this time was full of joy. "You received my letter!"

"That answers my question," she muttered; then, slowly, realized that she was speaking to Sarah Hilbert herself. She hesitated, looking to Lacuna, who took another careful step in her direction, as if he was concerned. "I'm sorry for calling you like this," she continued, slowly, unsure just how fluent the young woman on the other end of the line was. "But Lacuna got your letter, and... to tell you the truth, neither of us were sure what to think." She drew in a breath. "But... you are the one who sent me the postcards, aren't you?"

"Yes. I am." Sarah spoke Japanese clearly, but with a slight accent, and her words were slow and carefully pronounced. Her voice was light, almost airy, and made her sound as if she was much younger than the nineteen years claimed in her letter to Lacuna. "I'm sorry to have done such a thing. But I had to send you those messages. In the past, when I tried to contact him..."

"Mitsuko. What's going on?"

"Shh." The brunette waved a hand at her companion, covering the mouthpiece with one hand. "Hold on a second," she whispered, frowning up at him. "I want to hear this."

"... in the past," the older girl said again, seeming at least somewhat aware that someone else had spoken, "my letters returned undelivered. I did not have a way to reliably deliver messages to you until recently. And as I mentioned, I had to choose messages that I knew would have meaning to you - so that I could prove that I was not lying." She paused, and Mitsuko could hear the hesitation in her voice. "Mitsuko-san," she murmured, softly, "is... my brother..."

"He's here."

"May I... speak to him...?"

"Sure." The brunette drew the phone back from her ear, tapped the screen, and switched the call audio to be emitted via the phone's speaker. "You're on speakerphone now," she announced, and heard a soft noise of surprise from the other end of the line. "Lacuna's in the room with me. So..."

No one spoke. Mitsuko looked from the phone in the palm of her outstretched hand to the white-haired teen standing in front of her, and at the sight of a bewildered expression on his face, she let out a groan. "Okay," she muttered, "you have _got_ to stop chickening out on me..."

"Lacuna...?"

The soft voice that was emitted from the phone speaker made the tall teenager's blue eyes grow incredibly wide, and he covered his open mouth with one hand, staring at the phone. Several seconds passed before Sarah tried again, her accent growing somewhat thicker - perhaps because she was nervous. "I realize that you do not remember me - and that you may not even believe me. But I am telling you the truth. Our mother was - was the same person, she left us, and - il faut me croire - "

"I believe you." Lacuna finally said something loud enough for Sarah to hear, taking another few steps so that he was close to Mitsuko. He reached out and took her free hand in his, trembling, and she didn't refuse him, twining her fingers through his as she lifted her head to watch him speak. "I don't know why. But I trust you. Your letter convinced me before I even heard your voice." He let out a shaky sigh, his eyes falling closed. "But somehow... je reconnais ta voix."

"Ma voix...?"

"D'une memoire." He chuckled; then, as if remembering that Mitsuko was present, opened his eyes and smiled down at her. "It's a little strange," he remarked, speaking to his sister. "But hearing you now, it's like I've heard your voice somewhere before."

"I'm... glad to hear it... truly."

"I have... a thousand questions..." He pressed his free hand to his chest, as if keeping his heart from jumping out of his ribcage. "And I'm sure you do, too. But... how in the world did you find me?"

"Lacuna." Mitsuko couldn't help but laugh. "Your father is a celebrity. You can't be _that_ hard to track down."

"Mitsuko-san is right." Sarah let out a childish giggle, the sound like the chime of twinkling bells. "But you moved so often that I couldn't reliably determine how to reach you. Until very recently, I did not have access to the internet, so all of my information was outdated. I have only also been searching for about three years - because I have not been aware of your existence for very long." There was a pause, and in the background, Mitsuko heard the sound of creaking wood - as if she was walking on an old floor. "I should explain from the very beginning. But this will take time."

"We have time." Lacuna nodded. "I want to hear it all."

"Unfortunately, I cannot use the phone here for very long for a long-distance call of this nature..." She giggled again, the sound softer this time. "May I ask you to please call me on your computer?"

"... on my computer?"

"Oh, like on video chat?" Mitsuko spoke up, helpfully, making an internal note to educate Lacuna on the finer points of technology at some point. "Is that what you mean?"

"Yes. Precisely." Sarah sounded pleased. "Mitsuko-san, can you help? I am set up to receive video phone calls, if they can be made to me. Although the goal is to speak to each other, it would be lovely to also see the face of my brother and his friend..."

"I think that can be arranged." The brunette pulled her hand free of Lacuna's, using the other to pass the cell phone to him. "Here," she said, and turned to cross the room to his computer. She sat down in his chair and spun easily to the screen, powering on the tower and monitor and giving her knuckles a good crack. "I'll just have to install the application," she said, looking over her shoulder, "so wait just a moment, okay?"

Lacuna looked dumbfounded. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll see in a second."

"Yes, he will really see, won't he?"

Mitsuko couldn't help but smile at Sarah's happy remark, but she didn't respond, watching her friend's computer boot into its operating system. After a few moments waiting and a couple carefully placed clicks, she had downloaded a popular video chat application and started the install process. The white-haired teen moved to stand beside her, blinking a few times as he watched what was happening on the screen. "You have a webcam, right?" she asked; then, abruptly, laughed and shook her head. "Never mind, I see it. It's built into the monitor. You and your new computer..."

He laughed awkwardly. "I feel kinda bad, not being able to use it the way you can..."

"It's fine. I'll just have to come over and use it more." She grinned, watching the application finish its install process. After a moment, a login window popped up on the display. "Sarah?" she queried, glancing at the phone now held out in one of Lacuna's hands. "I'm signing on now. Are you ready?"

"Yes. I am at my laptop. I hope the quality is good..."

"What's your username?"

"Ah... it's "sarahhilbert.""

"Easy enough. Hold on a second." She typed her username and password into the application, waiting as it signed into the network. After this process was completed, she opened a menu and typed in the name she had been provided. "I'm calling now," she announced, and clicked a small green icon in the shape of a phone. "Let me know if - "

"I see it! I will hang up here now, oui?"

"Okay. See you in a second."

"Wait..." Lacuna bent down to peer at the screen. "Wait. You're calling her on my computer?"

"Try to keep up, would you?" Mitsuko pointed a finger at the monitor, reaching up to take the cell phone out of Lacuna's hand. "Watch," she said, ending the phone call. "We're making a video call to your sister right now. So as soon as it connects - " She jabbed a finger at a new icon that had appeared on the screen, a black box with a small hourglass cursor spinning in the middle of it. " - you're going to see and hear her."

"... really?"

"Yeah. Really." As if on cue, the box disappeared from the screen. In its place appeared an image - video - of a young woman Mitsuko presumed to be Sarah Hilbert. The video showed a slender, pretty girl with long, wavy strawberry-blonde hair and dark blue eyes, sitting at a desk in what appeared to be a small bedroom. She appeared rather thin and delicate, and Mitsuko immediately noticed how similar her face was to Lacuna's. Although the quality of the stream wasn't spectacular or fast, it was clear - and when Lacuna saw the image of his sister for the first time, he let out a loud, shocked gasp, one of his hands lifting to his mouth. "Well," the brunette murmured, glancing up at him, "there you go."

"I can't believe..." He hesitated for a moment, then leaned closer to the screen, bracing himself against his desk, his eyes wide. "You're... real."

"Yes. I am real..." Sarah's laughter was even more pleasant on the video call, but just as soon as she was finished smiling, her entire composure seemed to crumble. Both teenagers watched as she covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes welling with tears. "My brother is alive," she said, softly, her words racked by a sudden sob. "I never thought that I would see this day..."

"I - I'm sorry - please don't cry - " Lacuna's words came haltingly, and Mitsuko could see that he was fighting back some emotion as well. "I didn't want to doubt you, it's just - I didn't know who to trust. Please don't - ne pleure pas, s'il vous plait - "

"Lacuna." Mitsuko placed his cell phone down on the desk, shifting in her chair to look up at him. "Go get your parents, please."

"... I - okay." He nodded, once, looking at the image of Sarah once more before turning away and moving to the door. "I'll be right back!" he called over his shoulder, sliding open the door and dashing out into the hallway. There were a few loud thumps as he flew down the stairs - probably two at a time - and then the faint sound of him calling for his father and Kirie below. The brunette breathed out a sigh of relief, glad he had listened to her. After everything else that had gone on with the Blade Children, she knew full well that Eyes and Kirie would not want to miss any of this.

"Thank you, Mitsuko-san." Sarah's voice was still unstable, but strong enough to be heard. The blonde wiped tears from her cheeks, sniffing softly, lifting her head so that she could make eye contact with the teenage girl. "It seems as if my brother trusts you..."

"To some extent..."

"I know that if I can speak to Eyes Rutherford, I can prove myself to him." She nodded. "I understand that there is reason to doubt me. But I could not lie about this. I am truly who I say that I am..."

"I believe it. You two could pass for twins." Mitsuko folded her hands together, glancing at the letter that still lay on the desk. "The thing is... we just learned the truth about the Blade Children a couple days ago. So it's been a little hectic around here, and we're all sort of... confused, right now."

"I see..." Sarah's gaze turned sympathetic. "I assumed that you all would have known the truth, but..."

"No. Not until my father found the postcards. That was Friday night."

"Oh... then you just learned..." Her voice dropped. "I am truly sorry to have caused you trouble - "

"Don't worry about it." The brunette forced a smile, swallowing. "It's better that we know the truth. Like I said, it's just been... different. We learned a lot of things that we weren't expecting. But I think that - ultimately - it's best that this all happened now, rather than later."

"Do you think that Lacuna is... happy...?"

"Sometimes I get the feeling that he's lonely." Mitsuko surprised herself by speaking these words, but she continued, working hard to keep her tone steady as she spoke to the girl on the other side of the webcam. "So finding out that he has a sister... in the long run, I think he will be happy about it. But about everything else... I honestly don't know." She shook her head. "He was troubled, when he learned the truth about his - I mean, your mother. Rutherford-san told him that she passed away and left him in his and Kirie-san's care. When he found out that he was left at an orphanage, and that meeting his father was actually this one in a million coincidence... It really upset him."

The blonde let out a soft sigh. "Yes... I cannot say that I would not have been upset as well. I was taken in by a kind woman who did not keep the truth from me, but..."

The younger girl leaned slightly towards the monitor. "Did you know about Lacuna - I mean, did you remember him? It sounds like you were both really young when you were left at the orphanage, but if he was four when Rutherford-san brought him home..."

"Unfortunately... ah, or perhaps fortunately..." Sarah's gaze shifted away from the camera. "... I do not remember very much of my childhood. The reason that I did not know of Lacuna's existence is because I did not remember him at all. In fact, we were separated as soon as we arrived."

"So - " Mitsuko leaned forward even more, feeling almost excited. "That means Rutherford-san didn't know about you - ?"

"Rutherford-san wouldn't have known about me at all." Sarah shook her head, the locks of her hair shifting gently about her shoulders. "When I arrived... I was considered a danger to others, and to myself. The woman who took me in thought that I could not safely be around the other children, or my brother. She sought to raise me away from the influences of my childhood." She smiled bitterly. "I have no memory of this time whatsoever, and my mother - ah, my foster mother, the woman who raised me - passed away a few years ago, so I cannot ask her about it now. Although she knew of Lacuna's existence, I believe she felt it best to keep us apart. It was our birth mother, the woman who created us, who... caused me to act the way I did..."

The brunette opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs gave her reason to pause. She turned, looking over her shoulder, and after a moment a breathless Lacuna re-entered his bedroom. "They're coming now," he gasped, moving back to where she sat. "So get ready..."

Mitsuko watched him lean on the desk, supporting himself with one hand, his breathing deep. "How did they take it?" she asked, blinking a few times.

He cringed. "... not well."

Sarah sounded frightened, her blue eyes growing wide. "I did not mean to cause any more trouble, but - "

There was a shuffling sound in the hallway outside of the open door, and both teenagers turned to look as Sarah instantly became silent, covering her mouth with her hands. They heard footsteps, and as all three waited, silent and anxious, Eyes Rutherford entered the room. He was dressed in a dark suit, tie, and silver-rimmed glasses - and Tsuchiya Kirie, who promptly came in behind him, was dressed similarly, her lengthy pink hair tied up in a bun. Mitsuko wondered what they had been doing that day, since neither of them had a traditional job. Takeuchi Rio entered last, squeezing past the two much taller adults, giving them each a smile as she did so. She was the first to speak - and act - as she made her way over to the computer desk. "Well," she mused, cheerfully, "let's see what Kanone's daughter looks like, hmm?"

Kirie sounded annoyed. "Stop being so excited about this!"

"But hasn't Lacuna-kun always wanted a sibling? Since you two refused to give him one, fate provided it." Rio practically radiated happiness as she reached the desk, apparently oblivious to Kirie lunging in her direction and being held back by Eyes, who had (quite quickly) caught the pink-haired woman around the waist with both arms. When she arrived beside Mitsuko, Rio folded her arms, staring at the computer screen, almost critically examining the image of Sarah Hilbert. "Hmmm," she murmured, tilting her head to one side, her shoulder-length gray hair falling partially across her dark eyes, "truthfully, she doesn't look very much like Kanone..."

Sarah seemed embarrassed. "I'm... afraid I don't really know what my father looked like..."

"That's okay! I remember!" Rio straightened her head, smiling. "My name is Takeuchi Rio. I'm one of the Blade Children. Although - maybe, you already knew that?"

"Oh... perhaps." The blonde placed a finger to her lips. "I... think that I heard your name, or maybe I read it..."

"You speak Japanese very well." The gray-haired woman was beaming now, and she looked over her shoulder, gesturing for Eyes and Kirie to come to the computer. They did, although reluctantly - and Lacuna immediately inched away from Kirie, who looked angry enough to kill someone at the moment, moving so he could stand closer to Mitsuko and his aunt. "Perhaps you would like to formally introduce yourself to everyone?"

"A - ah... yes..." The young woman straightened up in her chair, taking in an audibly deep breath. "My name is Sarah Hilbert," she stated, her blue eyes moving from Rio to Kirie, and then to Eyes - and for a moment she seemed to be holding a gaze with the pale-haired man, whose face was still completely blank. "Although I never met him, my father was the man named Kanone Hilbert. And as I wrote in a letter to Lacuna... I am his half-sister, as we shared the same mother." She leaned forward, bowing slightly in her seat. "I'm very glad to meet you all."

"What was your mother's name, Sarah?" Rio placed her chin in one hand, leaning against the desk. "She was one of the Blade Children, correct?"

"She was... but I am afraid that I do not know her name, or who she was..." Sarah's expression softened into a sad smile. "I know very little about my past."

"What?" Lacuna spoke up now, his eyes widening. "What do you mean? I thought you knew about her!"

"I know some things, but not everything." Her gaze dropped to her hands, which she had placed together atop her desk. "You see... the two of us were abandoned by our mother when I was five years old. When we were found in a hotel, many of her possessions had been left behind in the room. When my foster mother took me in, those things came with me. But it was not until she passed away that I knew about them." Though the video quality made it difficult to tell, Mitsuko thought she saw Sarah cringe. "Among her possessions was a... journal, of some sort. It was written in Japanese. At that time - when I was age thirteen - I could not read any of it. But because I thought it would tell me something of my past, I began to learn to read and speak the language, and slowly read what she had written. Eventually, I learned about my creation - and yours."

"But her name isn't... in there...?"

"No." She shook her head slowly. "And she used an alias many times... in fact, I believe that the police attempted to search for her using a false name." She sighed. "I am sorry, Lacuna..."

"This is a very odd story." Kirie finally spoke to the young woman on video, leaning over the back of Mitsuko's chair. "You're telling me that your mother somehow used the DNA of a dead teenager to create you, then dumped you in some orphanage with Lacuna?"

"I know it is difficult to believe, but - "

"You're right about that." The pink-haired woman's eyes were narrowed, her tone skeptical. "The situation you're describing is next to impossible. It's bad enough that Lacuna was created in the way he was. But Eyes Rutherford is standing right here beside me. Kanone Hilbert was killed when he was seventeen - over twenty years ago. If you're the age that you claim you are, that means your mother would have had to take DNA from him before he died, and then repeat the process with Eyes - "

"That is exactly what she did!" Sarah leaned forward, interrupting Kirie. "I know that it is preposterous, Tsuchiya-san. But I have proof. I have the journal I mentioned. She documented the entire process. Before my father was killed, she worked in a hospital, and that is how she gained access to both him and - " She faltered slightly, glancing over at the silent figure of Eyes. " - and Rutherford-san."

"Seriously?" Kirie didn't sound convinced. "So she snuck around the hospital stealing sperm samples so she could make new Blade Children?"

Mitsuko and Rio exchanged embarrassed glances as Sarah stammered out an answer. "Y - yes - that is - "

"That _would_ explain some things."

The pink-haired woman's head snapped to the left as Eyes spoke. The pale-haired man had removed his glasses, and turned them around in his hands, appearing almost thoughtful. "Eyes," Kirie began, her tone hinting at a well-suppressed fury, "you don't actually believe - "

"We had already guessed that this was how Lacuna was created. I was hospitalized twice at the age of seventeen." He tapped his fingers on the left stem of the frames, his blue eyes distant. "I recall your own theory being that someone disguised as a nurse or physician would have been able to acquire my DNA during one of these two times, particularly when I was unconscious and bedridden."

"But I was with you the second time. No one got by me then."

"That is true. But consider the situation that she is describing." He gestured at Lacuna's monitor, at the image of Sarah sitting silent, listening to him speak calmly to everyone in the room. "If this woman had access to a hospital, and was able to successfully extract our DNA, it is also extremely likely that she would have had access to a laboratory. Even if Kanone was killed as a teenager, a frozen sample of his genetic material would have remained viable for several years. And the same applies for me." He lifted his head, looking down at her. "This is true, correct?"

She scowled. "I still don't buy it."

Rio laughed softly from her place beside Mitsuko. "Poor Sarah... it must take so much courage to finally contact us about this, and then all we have done is argue about whether or not she is telling the truth..."

"I - I have one other thing." As the five observers looked back to the screen, the blonde disappeared for a moment, rising from her chair and moving off-camera. When she returned, she held a small object in the closed palm of her left hand, her fingers wrapped tightly around it. "I do not know if this will have any significance to you, Rutherford-san. But this was in my mother's things. She said that it was taken from my father..." Her blue eyes softened. "I thought you might recognize it."

As they all watched, Sarah unfolded her fingers, revealing a small white object - which, upon being held closer to the camera, appeared to be a seashell. Lacuna spoke first, lifting a hand to scratch his head. "A shell?" he asked, sounding confused. "Why would you think that otousan would - "

The teenager's sentence was cut short by the sound of Rio muffling a sob into her hands. Mitsuko and Lacuna both immediately turned to stare at her, worried... and then just as quickly heard Eyes murmur something in English. As the teenagers exchanged startled glances, the pale-haired man took a step toward the monitor, a tremor in his voice as he spoke to Sarah. "I do recognize it," he said. "It was a gift that was given to me as a child. I gave it back to Kanone - to your..." He paused, abruptly, sighing. "... to your father, shortly before he was killed by Mizushiro Hizumi."

"Oh lord." Kirie rubbed her forehead. "This can _not_ be happening right now."

Rio wiped tears from her cheeks, smiling up at the taller woman. "I'm afraid that it is..."

"Sarah. Where are you located at the moment?"

"Ah... I am currently in Paris." The blonde answered Eyes with only slight hesitation, appearing somewhat confused - but also relieved. She placed the seashell down on her desk, folding her hands together again. "At the moment I am a secretary and records clerk for a Christian church. There is a small room here on the second floor where I am allowed to stay in exchange for my service... which is where I am at the moment." She smiled. "Were it not so early, I would imagine that my presence would be missed right now. But there is a service this morning that will require my attendance, so I will not be able to continue this call very much longer..."

"I see." Eyes slid his glasses back on his face, then reached into the back pocket of his suit pants and retrieved a slim black cell phone. "Then we will come to Paris to hear the rest of your story."

Audible gasps echoed in Lacuna's bedroom. "Eyes!" Kirie exclaimed, turning to him. "You can't be serious!"

"Hm." He smiled ever-so-slightly as he navigated through a menu on his phone. "I recall you saying that you wanted to visit France again."

"Not because of this - "

"Kirie. I'm going to make the arrangements. Please call Tsukiomi tomorrow morning and inform them that Lacuna will be absent from school next week." He glanced up at his son as he lifted his phone to his ear. "I trust that will be fine with you."

The pale-haired teen was too busy gaping to respond. Mitsuko looked from him to Sarah - who was also staring at Eyes, open-mouthed, blue eyes wide - before she thought to interject. "I'll take notes for him next week, Rutherford-san," she volunteered.

"Thank you." He nodded at her once; then, looking back to the monitor, gave Sarah a nod as well. "I will contact you tomorrow regarding your exact location. I will arange for our stay in Paris, but I trust you will be able to secure a location and time for us to meet?"

"Y - yes, of course... there is a meeting room here." She leaned closer to her camera. "But, Rutherford-san, you do not have to come all the way here on such short notice - "

"Perhaps I do not. But I would like to see the daughter of Kanone Hilbert in person." He smiled again. "And I am sure that my son would like to meet his sister."

Lacuna finally managed to speak. "Otousan, that's... you don't have to..."

Eyes didn't reply, instead turning on his heel to leave the room. As he entered the hallway, Mitsuko heard him begin to speak to someone via his cell phone, making an inquiry as to the earliest flight into France. The remaining occupants were quiet for a moment, all looking at each other without speaking. Rio was still wiping away tears, Kirie's stunned expression had settled into one of a resigned annoyance, and Lacuna...

The brunette sat up straight in her chair. There was an expression on Lacuna's face that she didn't like - something that seemed torn between misery and helplessness. "Lakkun?" she queried, quietly, examining him. "What's wrong?"

"I - " His voice cracked. "Sorry..."

Rio turned her dark eyes up to her nephew. "Lacuna...?"

"I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time... understanding all of this..." He lowered his head, covering his eyes with one shaking hand. "Give me a minute, okay?"

"Mitsuko-san..." Sarah spoke softly, drawing the brunette's attention back to the computer monitor. "I will take my leave," the older girl remarked, her blue eyes moving to Lacuna's figure, then back to her. "I must get back to my duties before I am missed. Thank you again for arranging this. I am only sorry that I could not spare more time to speak with you and my brother..."

"It's fine. It sounds like they'll be seeing you in a couple days, anyway."

"Ah..." She smiled slightly. "Well... I'll be going now. Thank you. It was lovely to meet you all." She bowed, her eyes moving from Mitsuko to Kirie and Rio as she straightened. "I trust we will speak again soon?"

"Eyes will call you tomorrow." Kirie crossed her arms. "But let me warn you right now, if you're lying about any of this - "

"Kirie." Rio cut off the older woman, shaking her head firmly. "Please don't make such accusations. Sarah is part of our family now." She smiled brightly at the blonde. "Right?"

Sarah seemed stunned for a moment, but then she smiled again, her expression brighter this time. "Thank you, Rio-san."

"Of course." The gray-haired woman looked up at Lacuna now, tilting her head to one side. "Lacuna... don't you want to say anything to your sister?"

"... no." He didn't lift his head, his voice barely loud enough to be heard. "Not right now."

"Lacuna..." Sarah sounded worried. "Are you not... vous n'etes pas heureux?"

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I don't know..."

Mitsuko began to stand. "What's wrong?"

Before anyone could react, the white-haired teenager suddenly bolted from the room, running so fast that it seemed like he was gone in the blink of an eye. Kirie groaned, slapping a hand to her forehead, and Rio started after him, then stopped, over her shoulder at Mitsuko. "Mitsuko-chan," she said, "maybe you had better go after him. I can say goodbye to Sarah, okay?"

The brunette rose from the computer chair. "I - are you sure?"

"Please go, Mitsuko-san. I am worried about him..." Sarah had clasped her hands tightly together, and her tone clearly conveyed concern. "He did not take the news about our mother's identity... or lack thereof... very well. It is clear that he trusts you, so..."

"I get it." Mitsuko sighed. "Sorry to cut this so short."

"It's no problem..." The blonde smiled. "I look forward to speaking with you again soon."

"Sure." With that remark, the younger girl turned and left the room, at first walking at a normal pace, then hurrying as she went down the stairs. By the time she reached the entryway of the Rutherford household, she had broke into a run. The front door was hanging open and Lacuna's sneakers were missing, so she had a fairly good idea as to where he had gone. The question, she thought, as she bent to slip on her loafers, was how far he had gotten.

She sprinted outside, into the sunny afternoon, down the front steps and to the sidewalk. At first glance, she saw nothing in either direction - but then, upon taking another look to her right, further down the block, she saw the figure of someone in a blue uniform. She cursed under her breath before resuming her sprint, running down the sidewalk as fast as her feet could carry her. As she drew closer, she realized that he wasn't moving, and was simply standing on the sidewalk in front of a large house, his back to her. "Lacuna!" she called as she neared, almost tripping over a crack in the sidewalk. "What's wrong with you?"

He didn't answer, or at least didn't respond loud enough for her to hear. A few seconds later she was closer, and she slowed to a walk, carefully inspecting his still form as she drew nearer to her friend. "Lacuna," she tried again, "what's going on?"

"It's fine. Go away."

"It's _not_ fine. You ran away without saying goodbye." She made a face at his back, stopping for a moment to gulp down air. "Listen," she began after a pause, trying to catch her breath - and again cursing herself for not taking up running like Mai - "I know something's wrong. And for some reason, everyone thinks I'm the only one who can talk some sense into you. So start talking before I - "

"Before you _what_?" He turned on his heel, suddenly, whirling around to face her. She had to stifle a gasp, taken completely aback by the sight of his blue eyes filled with tears and several wet streaks trailing down his cheeks. "Before you give up on being around someone who has such a messed up life? Before you decide you can't handle being involved with someone whose mother created him in a test tube and left him for dead with a sister he didn't know he had?"

Mitsuko gaped at him, caught entirely off guard. "Lacuna..."

"For a long time, I thought I was just a guy with a rich dad and a crazy stepmom. On Saturday I found out I'm the unwanted offspring of two people who were chased down and nearly killed, and that my mother dumped me in some orphanage. And today I found out I have a long-lost sister living in France." He turned his eyes away from her, cringing, a tear rolling down his cheek. "This is all too much for me to take. I don't know what to believe anymore. How am I supposed to handle finding out that my entire life has been a lie?"

"... I - "

"Tell me what I'm supposed to do, Mitsuko." He lifted his head, staring up at the bright blue sky above them, his expression pained and his voice weak. "Because I don't know anymore. All I wanted was to come back to Japan and live a normal life again. But all of that changed. What am I supposed to do now? What am I supposed to believe? What _else_ don't I know?"

She gazed up at him, feeling helpless, unsure of what to say. She had never seen Lacuna cry before, not even when they were children. He was always so positive, even in the toughest of times, and to see him crumble like this, under the weight of everything he had learned... It wasn't unexpected, but Mitsuko hadn't been prepared for it. "Hey," she started, softly, "it's going to be okay..."

"Is it?" He lifted a hand to his eyes, his shoulders shaking as a fresh wave of tears overtook him. "I don't think I can handle this. I don't even know what's real anymore. I just wanted a normal life."

"Lacuna." She spoke his name again, moving closer to him. "It'll be fine. You'll - we'll get through it. I promise."

"What are_ you_ going to do?" He sounded overwhelmed now, his hand only partially obscuring the tears that fell from his closed eyes. "You can't make everything normal again. Eventually, you're going to realize just how messed up my life is, just how much being around me has already changed your _own_ life - "

"Stop it!" She cut him off, and although she expected her words to sound angry, they came out in a sorrowful tone that she barely recognized. Before she could comprehend what she was doing, she had closed the distance between them, springing forward to grab him in a tight hug. She pressed her forehead hard against his chest, wrapping her arms firmly around his middle, closing her eyes. "Stop it," she repeated. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm here. I'll always be here. If you want something to be real, _I'm_ real. So stop this. I promise you that we will get through it."

"Mitsuko..."

"_Please_ stop crying." She lowered her voice now, leaning forward, feeling the curls of her hair fall forward to hide her face - and she was glad, because she didn't want him to see the expression on her face, just how much the sense of helplessness had affected her. "Everything will be fine. Just - please, don't cry anymore. If things are so bad that even you have given up..."

He didn't respond, but after a pause his arms circled her shoulders, gently, his chin coming to rest on the top of her head. They stood on the sidewalk like that for a long time, unmoving and silent in their shared embrace, and for that moment in time there was nothing else in the world that mattered so much to Mitsuko as the teenager named Lacuna Rutherford.


End file.
